Worst Space Heroes Ever
by Baratheon1
Summary: So this is a thought experiment me and a friend did where we took our D&D OCs and dropped them into the Voltron universe because we loved the idea of a Voltron AU with our asshole children. There are a few characters we kept, but for the most part it is OCs. But I hope you enjoy our horrible children trying to save the universe. And, Feel free to leave a comment.
1. Chapter 1: Finding Blue

So our story begins as two garrisons students, breaking curfew are cruising down through the middle of nowhere…

They can see a shooting star in the sky. "Woah make a wish Tross" Says Eric.

Tross closes his eye and wishes. To the surprise of both guys, the star isn't vanishing quite yet instead they noticed its getting closer... TO THEM!

Tross sees this and immediately responds, "That was not what I meant!"

Eric, meanwhile grabs the wheel, pumping the gas to the floor and turning around sharply, hoping to dodge the worst of the blast.

As it gets closer and breaks through the atmosphere they can see that it is no star, but a large metallic object. smooth on the outside and winged in shape. roughly the size of two RV's next to each other. It hits the ground at 45 degree angle. not very graceful, but the object remained in tact.

Through the open window, they both feel the rush of hot wind hit their faces. Eric, realizing that the thing had crash landed already, brought the car to a stop. Both young men stared at the wreck, unabashedly curious. "We need to report this to the Garrison," Tross suggests, while Eric immediately responds, "We should go check it out!"

"Okay," Tross mutters warily, "But we need to be careful." His curiosity having gotten the better of him, he slinked forward, both ducking down and trying to keep hidden among the newly risen dust.

there's a shuffling sound and they see a hatch open on the side of the object. Out popped a strange looking man. Though humanoid, he was tall with spiked black hair and pointy ears. he had two gray marks going down the side of his face and his skin was completely purple. He came out of the wreckage coughing from the smoke. He bent over catching his breath as he noticed Tross and Eric for the first time.

Their eyes widened in shock, both not expecting to be spotted so soon.

"Holy crap, dude," Eric mutters aside, "Is that cosplay?"

"Don't think so," Tross shakes his head, "Cosplayers normally don't crash-land in giant ships."

"Yeah," Eric whispered. "But aren't aliens s'posed to look more... Alien? Where were the pod people? The body snatchers? The little grey men?" Somewhere in the back of his mind, his inner movie enthusiast was very disappointed.

Tross steeled his nerves, "Are you alright? Can you understand me?" He shouted towards the gasping purple... man...thing? It looked masculine, by human standards... whatever it was.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have a quantum combustion engine on you by any chance?" he replied

Tross and Eric glance at each other, bewildered. "Ask him. He's the brains." Eric gestures with a thumb towards the shorter man.

"Sorry, but I don't..." He'd been researching quantum physics lately, sure, but he hadn't any idea what the purple thing was referring to.

"What-Who are you?" He asked.

"Daemon."

he said abruptly like that was supposed to explain everything.

"Could you tell me what direction I go to find the nearest three dimensional engineer or repair shop. My ship was shot down by a Galra cruiser out around the far reaches of your solar system. Had to make an emergency landing."

Eric and Tross shared another _look_. Then, they turned their mutual gaze back to "Daemon", who could instantly tell that these two had _absolutely no idea_ what he was talking about.

"Great." said daemon kicking the sand. "I'm stuck here aren't I." he took a deep breath. "Is there anyone on your primitive planet then knows how to fix a space ship." He said very slowly, like if he was talking to toddlers

"I could take a look," Tross offered, striding cautiously forward, leaving a semicircle of space around the alien newcomer. "Do you know what might be wrong with it?"

"There are laser blast holes in the engine. I could fix it myself if I had the tools, but clearly your kind hasn't invented them yet."

Ignoring Daemons passive aggression, Tross swiped at the smoke, and leaned over to look inside. "This thing won't blow up on me, right? What's it running on?"

"The blood of the innocent"

he stared at Tross seriously for a moment

Tross immediately reacts with a short look of horror, before turning back to the open engine slowly, "Good thing I'm not innocent."

His face is calm again as he begins to assess the damage.

Daemon raises an eyebrow, impressed, he never had that reaction before when making that joke to new alien species.

"It runs on a compound that there is plenty of on your planet. liquid hydrogen dioxide."

A fancy word for water, Tross thought.

"Fascinating..." Tross took in the info, but his mind was on the wreckage. Most of it was just damage to the wiring around the engine, nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of time. Some of the more complicated pieces, little hard drives here and there, he might be able to fix up with a night's work and some spare computer parts, if he could re-adjust them. Worst case scenario, he'd need to ask Jonah if his friend could 3D print them. But there was one component, a small still-glowing spiral, that had a bullet shoved straight through it. He wasn't even sure what it was made of, but it didn't seem like an easy find on earth. He pulled back, turning to face the purple man, "That spiral thing in there. Is it important?"

"The quantum defibrillator! Of course! Now I just need a sonic ratchet and some spare lead based alloy."" Daemon paused before turning to look at Tross and Eric's car. "How much do you like your land vehicle?" Daemon said eyeing the hubcaps.

Eric defensively throws his body over the hood of the car, hugging it with both arms.

"A lot." Tross says, turning back to Daemon.

"hmmmmm" Daemon mutters something to himself in a language neither of the humans are familiar with. He eyes Eric and Tross, analyzing their size and muscle mass. He thinks his plan over in his mind before executing. Daemon pulls what looks like a fancy gun out of his jacket pocket and hits Tross over the head with it. Tross drops to the ground. Eric moves in to an offensive stance ready to help his little buddy. He throws three punches all of which Daemon dodges with expertise and grace. Daemon winds up his legs and hits Eric square in the head with a roundhouse kick. Eric falls over unconscious.

Daemon while the two are out begins stripping the car and gathering the parts he needs.

As the two of them sleep, Daemon feels a slight tremor in the ground. He continues working. Then there's another. He ignores it. He's almost got the last of this bit out, now all he needs is to do is gather the pipe from the back and—

Suddenly, there is a much louder vibration. It racks the earth below him, and he realizes, that the earth underneath him seems to be _moving_. With a slow shifting that quickly gains speed, he watches as the ground sinks inwards, surrounding the crater where his ship had lodged itself.

Daemon Tross and Eric fall helplessly into the cavern…

When he awakes Eric pulls out his phone and puts on the flashlight. He finds Daemon lying unconscious on the ground next to Tross. The first thing he does is kick him where he thinks Daemon's balls are. This prompts Daemon growing in pain. As he shines the light around the room he notices hieroglyphs surrounding it of a large blue lion, drawn in crude blue paint.

 _That's strange, I wonder who drew these. They look ancient._ Thought Eric.

Tross shifts and sits up with a soft groan of his own, rubbing the back of his aching head. "Eric?" He asks the beam of light ahead of him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Eric responds.

Tross takes out his own flashlight and checks his friend over for injuries. He seems to be okay, but Eric had a bad habit of letting himself take a lot of damage without fully realizing. Or caring. Depending on his mood.

"Check this out," Eric points with his chin at the heiroglyphs, "Any clue what these mean?"

"No idea... They aren't Egyptian, that's for certain. They look really old though. I wonder if they were put here by an ancient indigenous civilization. They almost tell a story." Tross says tracing his finger over a painting of a blue lioness emerging from the sea. "Like this blue lion thing is repeated a lot. I wonder what significance it would have?"

He hears another short groan behind him. Before Daemon can fully stand again, Tross walks over to him, and grabs the gun from its holster, aiming it square at the alien. "Don't move. Don't even think about running away."

"You don't even know how that thing works" He says wiping magenta colored blood from his nose. "its not even on."

Tross fumbles around the gun until he found what looked vaguely like an on button. The gun lit up blue and he aimed it again at daemon. Tross takes a moment to meet the other's eyes, "You're right. I don't know how to work this thing. But it looks like it's on now, and even if that weren't the case, I still know that it hurts like hell when you swing it at someone's face." His voice and his bright blue eyes are cold.

"You haven't got it in you" said daemon with a cocky grin.

"You don't know me"

"I can see it in your eyes. Your scared, to nice for this kind of thing you-"

He shot daemon in the shoulder. Daemon screamed and went to cover the bullet wound with his hand "YOU SHOT ME!"

"In the shoulder. You'll be fine. " Tross replied smugly. "I mean unless that's where your heart is. I don't know what your anatomy is like." Tross grinned "I'm going to be honest with you," He continued, smile dropping off his face, "I got lucky with that warning shot. Or should I say, _you_ got lucky. But I'm more than willing to find out which parts of your anatomy are weakest," He gives him a wicked smile, "Providing, of course, that you're willing to keep pushing your luck."

"Fine," Daemon spits out, "You can have the parts to your vehicle back. Happy?"

In the meantime, Eric had been looking around. The hole they were in was too steep and deep to climb back out of. There were a few tunnels underground, but he had no idea where they all led. After a bit of examination, he directed the light into one of the tunnels. It was the one marked with more extending hieroglyphs, and had a faint blue glow to it, which they all assumed meant it was an exit. Or, maybe there was something at the end of it that could help them out? There was one way to find out. "Tross!" He yelled over his shoulder, "I'm checking this place out!"

Tross nudged the gun into Daemon's back, "You aren't going anywhere until we have the means to get home. Then, you can solve all your little problems _yourself_."

Daemon followed Eric, gun at his back _I hate this planet. I hate it so much_ they followed the tunnel for about ten minutes, heading deeper and deeper into the earth. Eventually the cavern became wide again and it opened on an impossibly large cave where stationed inside was a blue, gigantic mecha lion, protected by a strange blue force field. "What the quiznak." Said daemon.

"And what on _earth_ is _this thing_ supposed to be?" Tross stated, starting to wonder if this wasn't all somehow an extremely elaborate prank.

Eric poked the force field.

"I-I have no idea." Daemon said. Though as he entered the room his head felt a little tingly and he thought he heard something. Like a voice talking to him, but it wasn't using words. He felt drawn to the lion and pulled away from Tross and Eric and walked up to the forcefield. He paused before stepping through. As he did the lions eyes lit up and it bent it's head down and opened its mouth, allowing him to walk on board.

"Hey, wait a second!" Tross rushed forward, "You still need to get us a ride back home! I'm not just going to let you escape into a robot."

the force field dropped down so Tross and Eric followed Daemon on board the lion. Then the door shut behind them

"Whats with you two? Are you really that desperate to catch me that you'd get LOCKED inside a Godamn CAT ROBOT"

"Well, he's stubborn and I'm an asshole" Said Tross "Thank you _very_ much!" He huffs.

"Look, I already said you can have your stupid vehicle parts back. What else do you want, you little quiznak! This isn't the flipping Galra empire!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't know about this '"empire"' you mentioned, but here in this country we have a little rule called ' _keep your hands off my shit_ '!'"

Eric, in the meantime, stares up at the flashing letters on screen. They make no sense to him, but they're flashing with an urgency that's difficult to mistake. "Hey, guys," He says, "I think Kitty wants our attention."

Daemon feels a strange force beckoning him to the control panel. The same force that told him to come on board the lion. He sat down on the chair and fliped a switch.

The cat gets up. "Woah!" Daemon can't believe his eyes. "Keep your parts dude. This thing is gonna sell for a million units at the space mall."

"Space mall? What space mall?"

"If I can just figure out how to get it to go where I want?" Leaning forward on the handles the cat races forward faster than any spacecraft any of the guys have ever been on. "You really don't know the space mall? It a great place to unload junk fast with no questions asked."

"Can this thing really get to space? I mean, I know technology has come a long way-Trust me, _no one_ is as aware of that as I am, but this thing isn't even aerodynamic! What's it supposed to do against the earth's gravitational pull, anywa-" Tross' rambling is cut off as the lion suddenly bursts with speed. Eric and Tross are both slammed into the wall with an _oof_ while Daemon yells out, "Whoo hoo!"

But that persistent pull telling him to listen to this machine doesn't stop.

Suddenly the cat shoots a blue beam out of his mouth and a portal opens up. they sail through it.

to daemons disappointment is not the space mall.

Tross realizes, with abject horror, that they've just been space-kidnapped.

Eric vapes.


	2. Chapter 2: Allura and Magic Destiny Time

Eric, indulged in his nervous habit, puffing away on his vape. He took a look around them. "So, uhh... I don't see any space mall..." He starts, voice heavy with questions.

"I have no idea where we are." Says daemon

"Where _are_ we?" Tross demands, turning to their impromptu pilot. "You fired the laser thingy! How can you not know?"

"I didn't fire the laser. The cat told me what button to press. It's hard to explain. But I've never seen this planet before in my life." With that the blue lion begins to descend and they found themselves coming rapidly to a large castle nestled in the mountains of the strange planet. The lion lands in the courtyard, lowers his head and opens his mouth. Finally letting them out.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." Said Eric.

As they exited the lion, the humans stayed at the back of the group, Daemon taking the lead with languid, confident strides. This wasn't the first time he'd gotten himself turned around; he could find his way to the mall lickety split if he could just get a good look at the stars.

"Huh...this place looks Altean? Like, ancient Altean. I bet there's a lot of good loot inside. What are you guys waiting for come on."

Just as he sees the taller man begin to stride towards the castle's door, Tross reaches out and grabs him by the edge of his long sleeveless overcoat.

"Hold on! You can't just expect us to help you rob a place after you pulled a stunt like that! I want answers!," He yelled.

The other man turned to face him, their eyes locking, but Tross was too panicked to consider being intimidated by this likely criminal. "Just who are you? And, what the _hell_ are you planning on doing with us now that we're here?"

"My name is Daemon Wind. I'm a scavenger and an assets relocation specialist. And for your second question I could ask you the same. I know I'm going to explore these super cool looking Altean ruins. Now you can come with me or you can wait here on an abandoned alien planet by yourselves. I don't really care either way."

Tross wasn't nearly satisfied with Daemon's flippant response, but before he could chew him out further, Eric began to introduce them both.

"I'm Eric. This is Tross; He always gets a little grumpy at exam times."

Tross opened his mouth indignantly to protest, but Daemon, still walking into the opening of the ruins, continued the conversation before he had a chance to get a word in.

"Nice to meet you Tross and Eric. Where are you guys from? I haven't seen creatures before with such hideous ears."

"You ever hear of earth." Said Eric.

"I think it's safe to say that I have not."

"So... You, _an obvious alien_ , landed on a planet that you knew _nothing_ about, _hoped for the best_ , and decided to rob the locals?" Tross deadpans, staring Daemon directly in the face.

"Yeah. I mean in my experience it usually works about sixty forty."

"I was trying to pass through the Gripis galaxy, I think you call it the andromeda. A couple of Galra fighters came out of nowhere and clipped my wings. My best bet was to land on the nearest planet with a breathable atmosphere. And we have already established that I like shiny objects."

"Who are these Galra that you keep mentioning? Are they going to attack us?" Tross asks, calmer now that he had a believable enough story to go off of. The man in front of him didn't seem to be lying, at the very least.

"You don't know the Galra? Well your going to sooner rather than later Short Stuff. They've been moving in on your solar system." Daemon sighs. His light-hearted smile fades away. "They're galactic Empire thousands of years old, hell bent on universal conquest and the eventual subjugation of life as we know it. Not to sugar coat things."

That made no sense. Well, the sentences did, but Tross felt like he was listening to the plot of an action movie. Seeing someone say that with such a straight face was utterly _jarring_.

"Oh," Eric chimes, "Like in Star Wars. The Galra are the Galactic empire… Does that make us the rebels? And ooooh, do I get to be Luke Skywalker. This is awesome!"

"I have no idea what any of the words you just said mean."

Daemon paused out front of a door inside the castle with doodles of a white haired lady and red haired man on them. It glowed blue faintly and then opened as daemon approached. "Today just gets weirder and weirder." Daemon muttered

Inside arranged in a circle were 7 perfectly preserved Altean pods. And it looked like the two on the end were currently in use.

Eric being one for doing rather than thinking approached the one on the end. Getting into the spirit of adventure he pushed one of the many buttons with alien runes. The pod opened up and a woman fell out of it and into his arms.

"Whoa!" Eric exclaimed, catching her nimbly, "Who's the pod person?"

Tross takes hold of the woman's wrist, checking for a pulse.

Thankfully, there seem to be signs of life, but he has no idea what to do for her. Alien biology might be different from human, and he didn't want to hurt her accidentally. Still, he noticed that there were similar markings between the lady and Daemon. Turning to his cohort, he asked, "Daemon, what should we do? She's unconscious."

"Um give her a moment to wake up?" He shrugged unsure. "She's definitely Altean, you can tell from the pink marks on her face. But I have no idea how long she's been here. I'd heard tales of what Altean technology was like, seeming more magic than science. But I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes. This shit is Ancient."

Slowly the woman eyes begin to open and she looks Eric in the eyes and says "y..y...you...you...you have positively the most hideous ears I have ever seen."

"well that's a fine how do you do, lady." Eric grumbled.

"She looks sort of like you... The cheek things, like you said" Tross says, gesturing to the tops of his own cheekbones, "Is she part of your... Kind?" He finishes awkwardly, not certain how to phrase it.

Eric, on the other hand, freaks out a little. "Guys! The pretty pod person is alive!" He shouted, nearly dropping the long-haired woman in the process.

"His kind?" The woman says with disgust getting to her feet. "I should hope not. He's not any Altean I've ever seen before…say the woman continued... what ARE you exactly?" she asked looking at Daemon.

"Thats rude, lady. considering Me and these two weirdos just saved you from those pod thingies. But If you must know, I'm Galtaen"

"I beg your pardon, what is a Galtean?"

"Part Altean part Galra."

"Your part Galra." She said with disgust.

Daemon was used to that reaction from people. The only people that liked Galra, were other Galra. "Only half." He said with a slight grin.

Tross, in the background, says, "Great. More alien words we don't know."

Eric, meanwhile, reaches over to the second pod, secretly hoping that the next alien will be even prettier than the first. However, before Tross can stop him, the pod is popping open and a middle-aged man with a bright red moustache topples into Eric's arms.

It wasn't exactly what he was expecting, to say the least.

"King Alfor!" he yells in what sounds suspiciously like an Australian accent. The voice reminds Tross briefly of an old earth show he used to watch back home, flight of the concords.

The woman's eyes light up as she sees the other Altean "Oh Coran, your alive."

"Princess? Is that you? What year is it?"

The two Alteans look at daemon Tross and Eric for answers

daemon shrugs "I dunno."

Tross says, "It's 2XXX. How long have you two been in there?" He gestures to the pods.

"2XXX? My god has it really been..." the princess trailed off.

"We've been in there for 10,000 years." Coran finished

"That's around the time of Altea's destruction." added Daemon.

"…Altea… was destroyed?" the two Alteans lock eye as the realization hits them.

"I'm guessing they didn't know." Said tross

daemon noticing the awkward emotional tension in the room begins to back out slowly.

Tross is at a loss for words. He knows the implications of this, and he scrambles to find some comforting words. "Look," He begins, "Maybe there are others like you? In this castle? Or on some other ship or planet?" He attempts to spark some hope into them. The worst thing would be to leave them feeling alone like this. "Right Daemon!" Tross exclaimed.

Dragged back into the conversation "I mean there are some remaining pure bloods. not a lot. but some"

Eric offers them some vape. claiming it'll help them feel better.

"See?" Tross says, "You can find others. You can rebuild."

Daemon gets an uncomfortable look on his face. He knows they can't. So, he tries the next best thing, changing the subject "Whats with the giant lions?"

"The...the lions. you mean of Voltron?" says the princess.

"Perhaps all is not lost after all princess"

"We don't know about Voltron, but Blue out there was pretty eager to find you guys," Eric states.

The princess perks up once again. "This is wonderful news indeed! We just need to find the others."

"Others? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second." Tross interrupts, "We need to get _home_. We can't go hunting for strange feline spaceships."

"Nonsense," the young woman states confidently, "The fact that the blue lion brought you all here, not to mention chose one of you as its paladin, proves that there is potential in the three of you to help bring Voltron together once more."

"And what is this 'Voltron', anyway?" Tross asks, frustration beginning to seep into his tone.

At this point, Coran excitedly takes over, "Voltron, dear boy, is only one of the greatest feats of Altean technology ever designed! Made by our own King Alfor himself, it was used for decapheebs to protect the universe and its citizens!" He states with happy pride.

"That's great. Where do we come in?" Tross demands with a glare.

"You were brought here by the Blue Lion," Allura continues, "Meaning that it saw you fit to ride it. This leads me to believe that the three of you have the potential to become the next Paladins of Voltron, the pilots of the Lions and the new defenders of the universe."

"Defender of the universe?! Yeah right. You want someone else for that job." Daemon loudly proclaimed "I'm just a scavenger."

"I'm afraid that's not how it works. The blue lion has already chosen _you_."

"How do you know it was me? It could have been shorty, or even the big oaf." daemon jabbed his thumb in Eric's direction. The princess gave Daemon a look. _yep this one is definitely blues type_.

"Well, who was piloting the lion?" Allura asks, turning to each of them.

Tross and Eric simultaneously point to Daemon, "He did it." They say.

Daemon drops his head. "Great" he said sarcastically. "Can't I switch with anyone?"

"I'm afraid that's not how it works. Damon of Galtea."

"I'm not from Galtea. its not a place. its just a word for what I am."

"I'm afraid not," Coran pipes up, "Y'see, the lions are known to be a bit... _Picky_ , when it comes to letting people pilot them. If you don't take up the mantle, it might take years before we find another candidate that Blue will accept.

"UGH! FINE!" Daemon groaned. "So then what do we do now?"

"If you'll give me a couple ticks, I'll try and locate the other lions." said the princess

"Um, hi. Tross here. Confused human. I'm still not buying it. All you need is purple rain over here, right? If you can just tell us how to find our way back to earth, _preferably before we miss our exam_ , we'll be out of your hair-

"I'm sorry, but you can't leave just yet. We need to see if you're the right Paladins for the other lions. I'm convinced that Blue brought you all here for a reason, and I want to be absolutely certain before letting you go." she waved her hands and as if by magic and a holographic rendering of the known universe appeared. she continued waving them around as she searched. "there we go. I've located the green and yellow lions. The red and green are still at large."

Tross sighed, "Alright, if we go on your little fetch quest, will you _please_ set us up with a ride back to Earth when we're done?"

"Probably not. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, bad once we get the lions it will only be the beginning of our fight against the Galra. I have no idea how long it will take to win the war against Zarkon. it could be a couple years or it could be decades."

" _Decades_?" He exclaimed, "What, do you expect us to just give up our entire lives to fight _someone else's_ war?" He scoffed at her, "If you think that's how this is going to go, then that time-pod must have made you lose a few brain cells."

Allura whirled around to face him, fitting her gaze with a look of determined fury. "This is _not_ someone else's war," She stated sternly, "The Galra Empire will not rest until Zarkon holds the entire universe under his thumb. They have destroyed both planets and civilizations in their wake, and I doubt that they've grown any weaker over the years."

Daemon, somewhat reluctantly, adds, "They haven't."

"Precisely," She continues, fiercely meeting Tross's eyes before saying, "They will not stop before they find your planet. They will not show your people any more mercy than any other place that they've taken. If we cannot find Voltron, then you may not have a home left to go back to, once they're through with it." She finished severely.

Tross takes a gulp. he didn't realize that. Eric puts down his vape and for the first time since they had met, tross saw him pause to think critically about their situation.

"I think I left the stove on." Eric says.

Tross face palmed.

Eric claps Tross on the shoulder, "C'mon, man. What could it hurt? We get to pilot the coolest things we've ever gotten to fly, and I mean," He half-murmurs the next part, "How often does anything _this cool_ happen at the academy?"

Tross sighs, "Fine. You win. We'll help. But what happens if we aren't the Paladins?"

"You lucky bastards get to go home." says daemon.

"the strange purple man is right. Unless you feel a desire to stay and help with the war efforts." Said Coran

Tross, brain thoroughly overloaded between the impromptu magical destiny and the lack of sleep, simply says, "We can decide that later. One step at a time. Where are these lions?" He politely asks Allura, his tone of voice more respectful than before.

Allura goes back to her holographic map and states "The first lion is the yellow lion, which can be found on the Balmera"


	3. Chapter 3: Meet (bel)Mara and yellow

The three young men had been waiting in the holograph-covered room for a few minutes now, as Allura pulled up various coordinates and scoured through the possible locations of the other lions. Luckily, before her father had put her into stasis, he had given her a link to the lions so that she may find them once more, when the time was right.

Tross, in the meantime, was rapidly taking notes in a small notebook of all the new fascinating tech that he saw. He really hoped that he would get a better look at the castle's insides later, since he seemed to be in this for the long haul now.

Eric sat beside his roommate, vaping and taking in the new sights. Occasionally, he would interject Allura's focus with a question like, "What's on that spiky planet?"

"The Zagonoids."

"What about that swirly one?"

"Kalinda. It was a peaceful planet. I'm happy to see it still standing."

Daemon is probing Coran for Altean history. He'd never met an Altean born on Altea before and was trying to learn everything he could about his lost culture. That and the scavenger was also checking the castle for valuables to steal. He already has Coran's wallet

"You know we're going to live here, right?" Tross asks him offhandedly, noticing his pilfering of the castle's supplies.

Daemon's eyes look quickly back and forth.

"I don't know what your referring to... small alien."

He quickly shoved what looked like a set of alien silverware into his bag.

Tross raises an eyebrow and says nothing.

"Alright paladins, It looks like everything is ready for you to go!" A happy shout is heard from the Altean woman,

This seemed to spark a smile from Coran, "The Balmera? Why, that's perfect! We can stock up on extra crystal for the engine while we're there. Remember to ask the locals about that, you three."

"My thoughts exactly, Coran," She responded, turning to the three men behind her, "It looks like it's time to send you out. I'm uncertain which of you will become the yellow lion's paladin, so both of you will be accompanying Daemon."

"Cool beans." Says daemon. looking up quickly form his conversation with Tross. "But, it might be a tight fit in my lion."

"I hope I get the yellow lion." says Eric between vape puffs. "That's my favorite color."

Tross gets up from his spot on the ground, "Let's get this over with," He says with a huff.

"Alright. here we are." says Daemon leading the three of them down in blue. He's started to get the hang of the controls. They descended rapidly at 90-degree angle. Tross and Eric thought they would collide with the ground. All they've seen so far from Daemons piloting has been him crashing, but at the last moment he pulled up and the giant robot cat landed smoothly and began trotting along the earth.

"DONT KILL US BEFORE WE FIGHT ANYBODY!" Yelled a dismayed Tross.

As they had landed, they noticed what appeared to be the remnants of a Galra basecamp. And, _remnants_ , Tross thought, was exactly the right word. The large, square building had a large, jagged hole in one side of it, and the blasters that had been mounted on its perimeter were smouldering caricatures of their former selves.

"What happened here?" Eric asked.

"It seems that the Galra were run out. But how? Their armies should only have advanced in strength over the centuries..." Allura sounded perplexed, "This must be the work of the yellow lion," She determined.

"Which means it already has a pilot?" Tross inquired.

"It's quite likely. Stay on your guard, paladins. We can't be sure that all of the Galra have left."

So, the five of them exited blues butt. Tross armed with Daemon's gun, and Eric, with a large pipe he found on the ground.

The two human men slowly advanced, while Daemon waited in the lion. Allura's instructions were ringing in their ears via tiny headphones, and thus far they seemed to be moving forward without incident.

There was a small, barely noticeable creak from an ajar door next to them as they slunk beside the base's main building. Tross jumped, aiming his gun at the door and hoping that he wouldn't have to fight so soon.

From the rubble, there rushed a tiny fuzzy critter with large ears and yellow fur, sort of like a desert fox but with stripes and a much longer tail.

Tross breathed a sigh of relief.

"Paladins? Is everything all right?" Allura's voice spoke. She had heard Tross' sudden gasp, and had gotten worried.

"False alarm. Sorry. Everything's fine." Tross responded, hoping that no one else had noticed his little flub.

"What's the matter. Never see a skag pup before." Daemon called teasingly over the intercom.

"As a matter of fact I haven't. If you recall this is only the second alien planet we've ever been to."

"Lighten up shorty. I'm just teasing."

"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" Called a strange sounding voice.

Tross and Eric ran towards it to discover what looked like a purple cat monster with a leg pinned under a fallen support beam.

"Please help me!" It cried

Eric using his giant arms for something other than flexing lifted the beam off the alien. "Are you okay, Mr. Furry." He asked once the beam was safely removed.

"Its my leg. I think its broken." The creature sounded in pain. "and my name is not Furry its...It's Forrin," he wheezed.

They gasped sharply as Eric lifted them up from the rubble.

"Your leg is not supposed to be bent at that angle. Unless it's like an alien thing and you can just sorta... Do that." Eric commented.

Daemon says over the intercom "Guys, what's that. What's going on?"

Tross and Eric do not know what a Galra looks like. They have a very vague idea, seeing as purple seems to be a recurring color, from what little they've heard, but they still weren't quite able to identify the species of the person before them.

So, naturally, they both flanked Forrin and began to support him as they walked.

"What happened here?" Tross asked.

"The Balmerans put up more of a fight than we thought. Nobody could've guessed they had a weapon like that on their hands. We let our guard down for just one night, and suddenly everything was crumbling on top of us. I got stuck in the rubble while the others escaped."

Just then, Tross heard Daemon over the intercom.

"We found an injured alien. He says his name's Forrin."

"Out of curiosity...what kind of alien?" says daemon

"Purple kitty," Eric responds bluntly, "But more humanoid."

"Leave him. Or better yet put him out of his misery. He's Galra."

"This is a Galra?" Tross asks, eyeing Forrin.

Forrin coughs up what looked like blue blood. "Yeah. hundred and eight division. we were stationed here collecting balmera crystals to send to command central."

"I'm not killing him Daemon. He needs our help, and he doesn't seem that bad to me." Said Tross

"Who are you taking to?" said Forrin.

"Our idiot pilot."

"I HEARD THAT!" Daemon yelled through the intercom.

"You were meant to." Tross smiles smugly.

"So you have no problem shooting me in the shoulder, but the moment that someone actually dangerous comes along, you're all sweet and merciful?" Daemon retorts bitterly.

"You knocked Eric and I unconscious. You're not exactly harmless, you know."

"I'm not a genocidal maniac." Daemon replied.

"Didn't you say earlier that you were part galra?"

Daemons tone of voice changed "that...thats different."

Tross could tell that he struck a cord with Daemon.

"Look. I don't know to much about what the fuck is going on. But what I do know is that there is a person that needs help. And I am not gonna be the asshole that walks away from him!"

Daemon went silent.

"I don't want you to bring him on blue. I'm coming down with some gauze. We'll patch the douche bag up. But, that's it. If his people abandoned him that's their fault."

"Alright," Tross slowly agreed. It was better than nothing. And he figured that he wouldn't be able to get much better from Allura and Coran, either. Though if this fellow was really so dangerous, maybe they ought to interrogate him on the castle nevertheless. However, he couldn't voice that idea in front of Forrin, lest he alert the Galra soldier.

The blue lion's mouth slid open, Daemon walking out with a med kit under his arm.

"Keep my gun aimed his way," Daemon told Tross pointedly. Tross reluctantly aimed the weapon, keeping his finger off the trigger.

"Forrin, will you be able to get home like this?" Tross asked.

"I don't know. If I can find any working ships, maybe. But I'm not sure if going home is even a good idea."

"Why?"

"The Empire doesn't respond well to failure. I may be just a grunt, but getting taken down by a crazy balmeran chick riding a robot is a pretty big failure from anyone's eyes."

Eric vapes.

Daemon enters through the building and began work on patching up the soldiers leg, refusing to speak to, or look at the soldier.

"what exactly happened here?" asked Tross.

"Well we were just going about our usual mining operations when our hailing frequencies got hijacked. A balmera chick came on the screen and said she was gonna kick our assess."

"Then what?"

"she showed up in a giant robot cat and kicked our assess."

Tt that comment Daemon let out a quiet giggle.

Tross gave a half-grin. "Well, the Balmerans seem honest, at least."

"Daemon? What's going on? Why have you left your lion?" Allura's voice chimed in Daemon's ear piece.

"You'll want to ask our little. what was it? Human? was that what you called yourselves."

"Yes."

"You'll want to ask our human friends."

"Tross? Eric? What is happening?"

"We found someone in the rubble," Tross says, "We're trying to help them."

He gave Eric a look, which Eric quickly understood as "ex-nay on the alra-gay". He was hoping to avoid making that particular piece of information known to Allura until he was away from Forrin, and could suggest his interrogation plan to the princess.

"A balmeran?" Allura inquired.

 _Shit. There it was_. The un-dodge able question.

In an unsure voice Tross answered "We don't actually know what kind of alien it is."

Daemon glared at them

Allura wasn't certain why she heard Tross hesitate before speaking.

"Do they seem hostile?"

"No." Tross answered honestly.

"Do they seem like they're associated with the Galra? Daemon, you would be able to tell, right?"

Daemon frowned, "Oh, they're Galra alright. And we're wasting time and supplies on them right now."

Tross winced. At least the alien man hadn't ratted him out for his lie.

He accidentally met Daemon's eyes. He glanced quickly away. The other's gaze had been too intense to keep without flinching, partially in guilt, partially in surprise. He hadn't expected that look on the alien's face.

"A Galra soldier?" Her voice rose a touch in volume, "Why are you helping them? Are there any others?"

"No. just the one. The others seem to have fled the yellow lion." Said Daemon

She sighed, half in relief and in frustration, "Alright, I want you all to stop interacting with this soldier as soon as you can. The instant that you heal them, I want you to pick up the pace and get to the yellow lion. Daemon, you are going to get back into blue, and if you have to leave it for any reason, you are not to let it out of your sight. We cannot afford to risk losing one of the lions to the Galra."

with that daemon finished with the soldier's leg. "later asshole." he said before returning to blue. "I'm gonna fly around in blue see if I can spot our mysterious yellow paladin. are you guys gonna come with me or what?"

Tross was just about to agree when, out of nowhere, several lasers blasted above their heads. Everyone instinctively ducked down, Daemon halfway back to blue but not quite at the mouth yet.

A woman's voice cut through the sudden noise, and commanded, "Drop your weapons or else!"

Looking around, the four of them realized that while they were distracted, several camouflaged figures holding what looked to be repurposed Galra firearms had snuck up to surround them. With slight fear, Tross realized that all these people had seen were three strangers clearly allying themselves with their sworn enemy.

 _'Ah, fuck_.' He thought to himself.

"Paladins? Is everything alright?" Allura's voice chimed again.

"We're surrounded!" Eric responded.

"It's okay," Tross reasoned, "Just do as they say for now." He slowly lowered Daemon's gun to the floor. Eric reluctantly set his metal pipe down too.

"THIS IS WHY YOU DONT GO AROUND HELPING RANDOM GALRA SOLDIERS,YOU FUCKWADS!" Daemon yelled. "BALMERANS, LISTEN PLEASE! WE ARE NOT WITH THE GALRA WE ARE PALADINS OF VOLTRON. CAN YOU PLEASE DIRECT US TO THE ONE WITH THE YELLOW LION ROBOT"

"If your not with the Galra then why were you helping them" yelled an armed balmeran

"This pitiful creature" Daemon gestured to Tross "Is mentally challenged."

"You were the one helping the galra. and your purple like them."

"I assure you we are not with the galra."

"I don't give a crap. Hands behind your head!"

"Listen, this is an honest misunderstanding. I didn't know he was Galra. I'm from a planet that's never interacted with them before," Tross claimed.

"Yeah, likely story," The Hornery Balmeran from earlier poked him in the back with a pistol.

"Look," Daemon said, "We can prove that we're on your side, just let us talk to the person in charge of the yellow lion!"

The same voice as before spoke, but this time the tone was almost... Playful? Still commanding, the hidden woman said, "That would be me. Yellow told me we'd have some fun if we came here today. Looks like I'm about to get a shiny new lion for my collection."

"Okay. nice to meet you. I'm Daemon. Now how's about we talk things out like civilized species."

"Or I could kill you and take your lion."

The woman stepped into the middle of the clearing, revealing a muscular frame and a weapon close to her side. For a second, she seemed to tilt her head and close her eyes, as though she were listening to something.

"Damn it!" She exclaimed, moving to glare at the captives in front of her, "Look's like today is your lucky day. Yellow's telling me not to kill you just yet."

Tross let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Good," Daemon stated confidently, "Maybe now we can finally talk. Pilot to pilot."

"Yeah, sure," She said with a grin, "Rope 'em up, guys!"

Within seconds, the four captives were ensnared with ropes and ties along their limbs, carried by the Balmerans like dead weight into a hiding spot amongst the ruined buildings.

once inside the balmeran pilot lifted daemon up from the ground and onto a chair. "Okay, you wanted to talk. Here I am. Say what you got to say"

"About a day ago I crash landed on a alien planet and I found blue. Blue took me to a castle somewhere I've also never been before to meet a princess and her...actually i don't know what coran is."

he heard Coran yelling something through the intercom

"Apparently these lion things are part of a larger weapon. something we can use against the Galra and end Zarkons rule, once and for all. We came here in search of the yellow lion for one of my mentally stunted human compatriots" he gestured with his head at the now bound and gaged Eric and Tross. "We didn't expect that the lion had already chosen a new paladin. So, I guess, did you want to make a truce and help us kill more Galra in the long run?"

"You sure are chatty." She replied.

"Its part of my charm." Daemon gave the balemran a charming smile, that reminded Tross of Flynn Rider from the movie Tangled.

Tross, much like Rapunzel, was unimpressed.

He also felt more or less pissed off. How was he supposed to know what a Galra looked like? And he still had very little scope of field on how dangerous they are. Forrin seemed less dicey, when it came down to it, than either of the arguing pilots before him. Speaking of Forrin... He was no longer there. _'I guess he's a prisoner of war now_..." Tross thought, with a touch of guilt. If he'd only been more vigilant, none of them would be stuck here like this.

"Alright. If you're really the pilot of the blue lion, you should be able to fly it, no problem. If you can prove that the lions trust you, I might consider letting you go." The leader of the squad offered.

Now, Daemon knew that as far as piloting the lion went, he was still pretty new at it. But he wasn't one to miss an opportunity, "It would be my pleasure," He flashed a toothy grin her way.

"Great. Remember, we keep your friends if you try running away." She warned casually.

"There really more like acquaintances. But that is a risk I'm more than willing take."

the balmerans walked daemon bound by the wrists back to the blue lion. He looked up at the robot cat and said "Hey girl. I'm ready to go for a ride."

The cat leaned down and opened its mouth allowing him inside. He turned to yellow pilot and raised an eyebrow. "Still don't trust me."

She placed two fingers into her mouth and let out a sharp, screeching whistle. With a huge distant rumble, the yellow lion erupted from the ground a way's off the area, probably from some hidden cavern. It flew quickly at them, before landing just behind the balmeran woman. It opened its mouth for her.

Before climbing inside, she looked down at Daemon.

"Ready for a race?" She asked, excitement clear on her face.

"wait what?" the look on daemons face dropped. He knew how the basics of how to operate his lion. he was not in anyway prepared for a race.

"You ready for a race." the paladin reiterated.

"Hell yeah." daemon replied. ego getting the better of him.

Daemon sat down in his lion, waiting for the command of the referee below. Apparently, he was supposed to go forward, duck underground, navigate the caves of some abandoned mines, come out the other end , and then circle back around. All while avoiding the copious amounts of crystals protruding everywhere.

 _'Fuck'_ he thought to himself.

"Hey, Allura?" He spoke.

"Daemon! What is going on? I haven't gotten a response from any of you for the past twenty minutes!" Allura told him urgently.

"Yeah, I know. Listen, I don't have much time to chat. I need your help. I'm in a race with the paladin of the yellow lion. Some balmeran chick. Her grunts surrounded us and took us hostage. I need you to tell me how to really fly this thing, and fast."

"Are you serious?" began the princess

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I don't have any tips for that. I've never actually flown one of these before myself."

"Well Fuck."

"I beg your pardon."

daemon watched as the referee waved the flag signaling it was time to go.

"Gotta go, its race time, bye!"

"Daemon wait, what race. This is incredibly irresponibl-" he hung up on the princess. hoping she wouldn't be too mad about it in the future.

With a burst of power, Daemon took off. Blue was a bit faster than the hardier yellow lion, which gave him the lead for about all of 30 seconds. Then they hit the crystal field.

Protrusions of blue spikes scraped the sides of blue, sending them both careening this way and that. He fumbled with the controls as the yellow lion whizzed expertly between the formations.

"Come on, come on!" He ranted at nothing, trying to pull himself back up from his sudden dip.

He rushed forward, trying to gain altitude, but the crystals seemed to wind and swerve above him now, too, forcing him to navigate this veritable labyrinth.

He swore under his breath as another rock seemed to clip the lion's side.

A few more cracks along the way, and he was finally out of the field. However, the yellow lion was nowhere in sight. In front of him, there was a deep, dark chasm. He wasn't build for the dark, not like a member of an underground civilization would be. He almost quit right then and there, but there was a pulsing feeling on the back of his neck that pushed him to keep on going.

Not bothering to think of a landing strategy, Daemon dove for the pit. To his relief, it seemed as though the whole thing had some dim lighting instruments scattered throughout it, but not nearly enough to make this an easy trip. Worse yet, he had no clue which way to go to get through the tunnels. He picked one at random.

Then another.

Then another.

Before he knew it, he had looped himself around, into the same cavern as before. Same, same, they all looked the same!

His frustration was growing with every minute, but that urging pulse in his mind wouldn't leave him be. Keep going, you can do this. Keep going, it's worth it.

This was the moment that he realized that this pulsing urge was not his own.

There was a small flash of blue light inside the lion, and Daemon closed his eyes.

"Hey, girl..." He hesitated, "Guess I haven't been listening to you all that well, huh? Sorry about that." He let his body relax into the chair. "Between you and me, I'm a little stuck right now. Got any bright ideas?"

Daemon's mind burst with split-second images. Someplace deep, deep under the sea, where the light barely reached. Just like this place. He let the lion probe into his mind further.

How to find his way in such a place? In the bottom of the sea. Another image, this time of some odd sea creature, one that he didn't know was called a dolphin. They were playing in the water, the blue lion drifting along with them, searching for a place to hide away until its next paladin rose to their calling. The dolphins let out a screech, barely audible, but still there, and for an instant, he felt the lion respond in kind.

Echolocation.

Of course a lion built for the deep sea could echolocate!

As he emerged from the caverns he saw just ahead of him and still in view a large cloud of dust. the yellow lion was just ahead of him closing in on the finish line. "Come on blue. we've got this. give it everything you got." The blue lion, being lighter than the yellow accelerated with astonishing speed. he had caught the balmeran, at her tail. literally. the finish line was in sight. "Just a little farther girl! You can do it!" Daemon and blue charged past with everything they had and crossed the finish line alongside yellow. It was a tie.

As he landed the lion back at the starting point, Daemon wondered if a tie would be enough to win their freedom. The yellow lion's pilot jumped out of its mouth, landing with a rough thud, feet planted firmly on the ground. She walked over to him, her face stone cold. Her figure seemed to tower over him, despite her height actually being slightly less than his own. She reached him and tilted her head up to look him dead in the eye.

"Not bad, newbie," She suddenly grinned.

Daemon realized, with astonishment, that _she was only acting intimidating to fuck with me._

He had to admit, he could respect that.

"so you'll consider my offer, and come with us so we can form Voltron and defeat Zarkon?" said daemon with a cocky smile.

"If we're gonna work together, there's two things you need to know about me. Number one; My name is Mara, because you never asked, you asshole!" She half-joked, "Number two: I am _always_ ready to kick Galra ass."

She held out a hand to shake on it.

"I think you and I are gonna get along just fine"

daemon said as he shook her hand


	4. Chapter 4: Daemon, Tross and Green

So, after the Balmera incident everyone arrives safely back at the castle. Two new lions parked in the hangar. They walk up to Allura and Coran who are in the main hub. Allura has the holographic universe map out again and she is probing it for more lions.

"Just a few more adjustments..." She mutters to herself, "There. I believe I have a good idea of where the Red and the Green lions are located. Now to decide who is to go and retrieve which." She turns to face the new would-be paladins of Voltron.

Allura finds, to her personal chagrin, that Eric and Mara have begun an arm wrestling match, Tross was trying to configure his mobile device to pick up earthen radio signals, and Daemon was constantly leaning over Tross' shoulder, trying to distract the younger man. Allura's face fell into a flat look, "Ahem," She tried. "Paladins?" She tried again. No response. Eric and Mara have started a fist fight. "Paladins!" Now _that_ caught their attention.

"because Mara and daemon already have their lions, we'll split up into two groups. Daemon and Tross will be the first group. I think the two of you will go after the green lion, which is located on an uninhabited jungle planet. Mara and Eric will go for the red lion, which I cant actually pin point, but it seems to be moving quickly through the gamma star cluster."

"And what makes you so sure that you're sending the right people? What if I get there and the Green Lion decides it doesn't like me?" Tross asked, a surprisingly genuine curiosity to his tone.

"The Green Lion requires a pilot who is intelligent and inquisitive," Allura replied, "Since it doesn't seem to have a preference in its paladin's temperament, then you ought to be more than qualified."

 _'Cheap shot,_ ' Tross thought, but kept his mouth shut for once, opting for a raised eyebrow at the princess' comment instead.

"I take it we're riding Blue there?" Daemon asked, "Where is 'there', anyways?"

"The planet is located in the Heracles cluster. it should be easy to find as it is only one of two planets circling the sun, and its the on that isn't compromised of poisonous gas." Said the princess.

"Cool." Said Daemon. "you up for a road trip shorty"

"Dont call me shorty." Tross mumbled angrily

Eric threw his arms in the air. "WOOOOOO ROAD TRIP"

Tross let out a chuckle at his friend's excitement, but still felt a touch irked by the whole situation, not to mention Daemon's rather unwelcome nickname. He couldn't help but wonder if all extraterrestrial lifeforms were tall and obnoxious. It had to be a trend.

"Fine. Let's do it." He said instead, facing Daemon confidently. "Wait," Tross remembered the lack of any stolen firearms on his person, "Are we going there unarmed? The balmerans never gave me back my pistol."

"You mean _my_ pistol," Daemon criticized.

"And for a matter of fact, I got it back." daemon said with a wicked smile as he revealed his pistol on his person.

"The planet your going to shouldn't have any hostile life forms. you should be safe" said the princess

"Alright, Princess," Tross hesitated, "I'll take your word for it."

"Splendid. The four of you know your missions. Mara, you will escort Eric in the yellow lion as well-"

"Yup." Mara confirmed.

"-And one more thing. Make sure that you get back through the portal before it closes. It should last only about two hours."

"Two hours?" Tross repeated, taking note of the time limit, "Understood

"Not to worry, with my speedy lion everything will be fine. Let's get moving short stuff."

said Daemon

"Keep saying short stuff," Tross muttered under his breath, "See what happens."

"I'm terrified. what are you gonna do? punch my face all the way up here"

"Say good bye to your knee caps asshole"

Allura regretted pairing those two together. _perhaps this excursion will give them some time to bond_

They soon settled into the blue lion and took off, coordinates at the ready. While a part of him was well and truly excited to explore all that the universe had to offer, Tross was beginning to feel the day's events take their toll on him. His wrists ached from the ropes, and his eyelids felt heavy from pulling what must have been an all-nighter by now, even if they weren't in the same solar system. It was impossible to tell anymore.

Daemon focused on piloting straight on, and they easily passed through the portal.

Even with the shortcut, they still had a good fifteen minutes to kill before they arrived. Daemon quickly decided to fill the silence with some conversation.

"So, uh...what's earth like?"

"Excuse me." Said Tross.

"You know earth. The planet you're from. What's it...you know...like"

Tross looked up at him from his spot on the floor with mild surprise. "Earth?" He began, "It's... Well, it has a lot of variety. Parts of it are beautiful, covered in forests or really nice architecture and then, Other parts are very desolate, like the desert where Eric and I met you." He felt a nagging curiosity in his gut, "Where did you grow up?" He asked.

"I was born on a planet pretty far from here, Tyresh, you probably haven't heard of it. Its in the heart of the Galra empire. Didn't stick around."

"Really?" Tross asked, surprised, "You were a part of the empire?"

"I was born there. I wasn't part of it."

"You don't... really seem to like it much." Tross commented, the edge of a question poking into the statement.

"From what I've seen... there isn't an awful much to like. I'm glad I got out when I did."

"When was that?" Tross was fully facing the other man now, giving him undivided attention, "What was it like?"

"I was pretty young. I don't know what unit of time to measure it in if that's what you asking." Daemon began "My mother was an Altean woman. She was a slave in a pleasure house. She died when I was little."

"That's awful..." Tross didn't know what else to say, "How did you... I mean, how did you get out? If you were so young, I mean." _Were alien children tougher than human kids? It wouldn't be surprising, given all he'd seen today._

"its kind of a funny story." daemons face began to perk up a little. "My mothers owner, a disgusting galra named Gueren handed me over to the army after she died. Can't make money off a child in a pleasure house, and with her out of the away he had no reason to keep me around any more. So, he took me to the local military base and left me there. I was put on a cargo ship to Lyse where I was supposed to be trained as a soldier. Instead our ship was raided by space pirates around the Pharanx nebula. Begged them to take me with them." He sighed peacefully. "those were good times"

"You were a pirate!" Tross couldn't believe what he was hearing. No, wait he did. It actually explained a lot about Daemon.

"I mean I _was_ one. Our crew fell apart years ago when one of our asshole members sold us out. But right now I just stick to scavenging. looting abandoned ships when I can. No harm no foul, right. But yeah I was raised by pirates." he said with that cocky smile of his.

He would never admit it out loud, but that was kind of... Cool, actually. Tross found himself with more and more questions building up, and he was wondering how to best broach each subject when they finally landed on a planet covered in rich greenery and rainforest-like terrain as far as the eye could see.

"We're here," Daemon announced, "Ready to pick up your lion?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Tross strode easily out of the lion's mouth, Daemon matching his pace.

"You feeling anything yet" Called daemon, seconds after stepping outside the lion

"No?" Tross asked, "Am I supposed to?"

"Well maybe not right away. but there is a feeling you get, like something's is calling you. I just thought it might be handy if you had that feeling so that we don't get lost in a goddamn jungle"

"Well, _excuse me_ for not immediately having some weird psychic connection with a mecha cat," Tross retorted sharply.

"Your excused"

"SOOOoooooo which way are we heading?"

"Which way does your non- existent psychic connection tell you to go?"

Things pretty much went on like this for a ha _lf hour_. Tross would walk off in some random direction, hoping that it might be the right place, to no avail. Daemon would interject with mockery, and Tross would feel his frustration rise little by little each time.

Eventually, he decided he'd had enough. "Maybe I would have found the damn thing already if you let me focus for more than two minutes!" He exclaimed, whirling to face his compatriot.

"Which one of us already has his lion. I now what I'm talking about" daemon yelled.

Their bickering attracted the attention of a strange looking sloth creature.

"Gah!" they both exclaimed

"Um...excuse me but do you know where we could find a giant lion?" Asked Daemon.

Tross, attempting a recovery, tried to remember his manners in the presence of the new creature, "Sorry about that. You just surprised us, that's all."

The sloth silently gave them a smile, and gestured with a furry arm towards a small boat parked along the shore.

Daemon walked over and sat, patting the seat across from him when he saw Tross hesitate. Tross slowly lowered himself into the little gondola, determining that this individual probably didn't mean them any harm.

"Don't be afraid, shorty." Daemon said. "There are much more terrifying things in life than a giant furry driving a canoe"

"I'm not afraid," Tross said half-honestly, "I just think it's good to be careful. I still don't know anything about space travel." I mean, sure, he knew about earthen space crafts and the like, but alien cultures? Zip. Zilch. Nada.

"Stick close to me and I assure you that you will not die probably."

"Comforting," Tross deadpanned, taking a look around. This place... Really was _tranquil_. He felt like he was resting properly for the first time that day. A few lazy clouds rolled by, and he chose to lay back across the seat of the boat and relax. "Hey, Daemon?"

"Yeah"

"You've been all over the place, right? Did you ever live in a place like this?"

"Not really. I do like civilization"

"I mean, so do I. But this place isn't half bad, you know?" He stretched out on the bottom of the boat some more, "What sorts of places _did_ you live?" Tross wanted to learn so much more about this world.

"Well I lived on a ship mostly" Daemon began. "But I've visited a whole bunch of places. Didn't stay to long. Mostly smuggling jobs. People like remote locations for that. There was one planet I went to with giant spiders. I don't like spiders. it was actually pretty terrifying."

"There are spiders in space. Of course." Tross laughed to himself. His sister would have freaked out so bad. It was the one thing that Albion was actually afraid of. "What are cultures like in space? Earth is... Well, it's a lot more isolated than I thought. Most people don't even believe in aliens."

Daemon laughed "Well that's a narrow way of thinking. And there's so much culture. I wouldn't know where to begin. There are some people in the quad that can mold technology out of metal. Their pretty badass. and on Queresh, they have these weird masochist monks that worship trees."

"Masochists? How are they masochists?"

"The scar-back monks cut themselves as part of their religion. Something about suffering so that we don't need to."

"Yikes. Wouldn't want to get on _their_ bad sides." Tross replied, "What's been your favorite culture that you had experience with?"

"I like the dothraki of virgil 6. Those guys sure know how to throw an orgy"

"You... What sort of... orgy?" Maybe it meant something different out here.

"like a really big sex party. lots of fun. I gotta remember to go back during their next fertility festival"

Oh... So, it _didn't_ mean anything different out here. Tross felt his face get a tough hotter than before. He turned to the side, hoping he could hide the fact that he was a little flustered by what Daemon had just admitted to him. "So, uh," He heard his voice rise in pitch for a split second, "Is being open about... _Sex_ " He squeezed the word through his lips, "A _typical_ thing among aliens?"

It was an honest question. An honestly embarrassing question.

Daemon was caught off guard by the question. He wasn't expecting it at all. "Um I guess. I mean it differs really species by species."

"Right, um," Tross coughed into his sleeve, "It's just that... Earthlings... We aren't the most, er, forthcoming about that stuff. So I, uh. Figured I should ask." Why was his damn face heating up more!?

"Well part of it is probably me. I was raised in a whore house."

Right. That. "So, are Galra not usually this... Open?" He couldn't help but ask. God, he had to switch the subject soon. He refused to let the other man see him _blushing_ about this stuff. It would be even more embarrassing getting caught being flustered than just being flustered alone.

It was too late. daemon noticed

He raised an eyebrow "For the most part its considered taboo to talk about these things in the open. But hey, I live for making Galra feel uncomfortable."

Man, _everybody_ hated these guys, didn't they? Tross saw Daemon's gaze focusing on his face a bit more, but tried to brush it off. There's no way he saw. There was an entire length of boat between them. There was no way.

"Daemon," He addressed the other more seriously, "What do the Galra do when they take over a planet?" This had been weighing on him for a while now.

Things had happened so quickly, he hadn't had a chance to ask Allura about it in detail.

"First they kill a lot of people. Then they set up shop, building army basses and things. Then they enslave everyone who's still alive."

Tross thought about earth instantly. He felt a pit of dread fill his stomach.

"Tross." Daemon began. He saw the mans face, and he got a sense for what he was thinking. "We're gonna stop them. We have Voltron"

"What _is_ Voltron?" The younger man asked, "I have no idea. Allura and Coran describe it as an all-saving superweapon, but we don't even know what it looks like. How can we bet the _entire universe_ on something like that?" It was the first time Daemon had seen Tross look... Vulnerable. Not suspicious, not harsh, just... Honestly lost. It was a little jarring.

"My mother used to tell me legends of Voltron. Its a giant robot warrior, the most powerful weapon n the universe. once we get all five lions we'll be able to form it. its hard to explain the exact nature of it, its been missing for 10,000 years. But you gotta trust me when I say that there is hope."

"I'm not a betting man," Tross admits, "But the way everyone talks about this thing makes it seem like less than a bet. A bet is made when there's more than one option. This seems like a final, desperate strike by the universe as we know it," He sighs quietly to himself, "For once, Daemon, I really hope you're right. Because it looks like Voltron is our only shot whether I like it or not."

It was at that point that the little rowboat docked in front of a pyramid of what appeared to be overgrown tree roots.

The pyramid was old. No not old, ancient. It was completely overrun by trees. It was difficult to spot at first, but then clear as day, Daemon spotted hieroglyphs carved into the temple, like the ones back on earth, of a large green lion. this was the place. "Do you feel the thing yet?" Daemon asked

As soon as the three of them had docked, the relaxing atmosphere of the planet became charged with something... More. Tross was hit with a wave of... Elatedness? the moment his body moved into the pyramid's vicinity. He felt a surge of energy. His curiosity roared in the back of his ears, stronger than ever, pushing him onwards. _'Is this what Daemon meant?_ ' He wondered. Aloud, he said, "I... I think I might be." He began walking until he was flush with the first giant root of the pyramid.

Daemon turned to thank their guide in Tross' place. offering it what looked suspiciously like a stick of gum as payment.

"Is this the place or what?" he called after Tross. but Tross didn't hear him, he was already racing to the pyramid climbing on top of the vines. once on top there was a small gap in the rocks. he saw something glisten in the darkness. what looked like two cat eyes, they glowed green. "Here goes nothing." said Tross as he jumped in through the crack.

For about a minute, Daemon didn't see anything but the stillness of the local flora. Just when he was growing impatient, there was a rumble from the pyramid's insides. Bursting through the topmost part of the roots, the Green Lion soared overhead. Daemon couldn't hear, but could sense the cheer of joy from the other paladin.

"WOOOOOOO!" he cheered

"That's my tiny alien friend." daemon called.

The sloth gave him a congratulatory smile.

Once Tross got his bearings in the lion robot, they returned to blue and the two paladins made their way through the portal. their mission a success.


	5. Chapter 5:Enter Shiro (also we meet Red)

Daemon and Tross returned to the castle feeling an immense sense of satisfaction. Daemon because they got another lion, and Tross because he had a giant fucking ROBOT LION now. It was an amazing feeling, running in the beast. The two paladins landed feeling hyped as ever. As they came in they saw Mara's yellow lion waiting out front but no sign of red. "

Hmmm. I wonder where the red lion Is?" Said daemon. They ventured into the castle and found their comrades situated around the castle main control panel. "Where's red?"

"We ran into a bit of a complication." began Eric. "It's on a flipping Galra battle cruiser."

"A what" said Tross.

"A mechanical death trap. We couldn't get in on your own, and we needed to wait for you guys to come back before we could move on." Said Mara. "But, things are looking up now that you have the green lion. Zarkon knows about the yellow and the blue. But not the green. This is an incredible advantage we have. But we still need to proceed with caution."

"Understood," Tross replied, "What do we do now?"

"We must figure out a plan to sneak you on the ship and allow Eric to reclaim the Red Lion," Allura spoke, focused on the task at hand, "I believe that with a proper distraction from ourselves and Mara, that will allow Daemon, Tross and Eric to sneak aboard using Green."

"Will you guys be able to handle that all by yourselves? If it's a big group, then..." Daemon didn't bother finishing his implication.

"We will enable the castle's defenses. Normally, we would test them beforehand, but for now it seems that we are on a time limit." It was easy to tell that Allura was making the best of the situation.

"Hey, uh, are we just going in there without... You know, weapons?" Eric asked, bringing up a familiar issue.

"No. Which is why I will now introduce you to your personal Bayards."

"Bayards?" Tross quoted curiously, "And those are?"

"Weapons of the paladins of Voltron. Each of you is to receive your own. If you'll excuse me for a moment," She turned and stepped out into the corridor. A few minutes later, she stepped back in with Coran, both holding what appeared to be several color-coded weapons on display. She handed them out to each of the paladins. "Each one changes to suit the paladins ideal weapon."

Daemon took his blue Bayard and suddenly a sword materialized from it.

Mara grabs hers, hefting it in her hand. Suddenly, it shifts into a great battle axe, suited perfectly for her size. Tross wraps his arm around the handle, the odd object quickly forming what looked to be some sort of... Grappling hook? With a blade at the forefront, ready to do some damage

"What the he'll kind of shrimp blade is that?" Said daemon. Tross nabbed daemon with it. Releasing an electric blast equivalent to an earth cow prod. Daemon fell on his back. Semi unconscious. "Ooooh. I like it" Tross said with a devilish grin.

Eric holds his bayard in his hand, though nothing seems to occur. "Uh, I think mine's broken."

"It won't activate until you've properly bonded with your lion, which is why you will need to be extra careful about staying with the group during your infiltration." Allura instructed.

"Alright," Eric said, eyeing the red tool with an eyebrow raised. _'Wonder what it's gonna be_ ,' He thought to himself.

"Alright, if you're all prepared," She was interrupted by the sound of Mara smashing her axe against Daemon's sword, y'know, just to test it out. Allura sighed, "If you're all ready to go, get to the hangar and get ready to sneak aboard."

So the three lions took off out of the hangar and flew to the coordinates Allura gave them. As expected, the galra battle cruiser was a monstrous sight that was three times the size of an aircraft carrier and undoubtedly had twice the fire power. "Everyone remember the plan." Asked Allura over intercom."

"Mara and I start drawing fire while Tross sneaks around to the blind spot on the bottom of the ship. Then I duck out of the fight and join them. Because I'm the only one who's ever been on one of these ships before." Said daemon.

And that's what they did. Daemon and Mara ran in charging the battle ship while Tross ducked around. It was strange and Tross, still wasn't used to the green lion. But he and Eric landed without trouble. They floated out in their paladin space suits and using some tech daemon had given them cut a hole in the bottom of the ship that was just big enough for Eric to squeeze through.

"We're in... I've always wanted to say that" said Eric. And daemon ducked out using his subtle stealthiness and joined them inside.

The corridor they entered was blissfully empty. Nobody wanted a fight immediately. The four of them slunk down the different hallways, keeping track of their course through the holo-maps accompanying the new armour that they'd gotten. At each new turn, Tross would crouch down to the ground and extend his grappling hook a little way out past the edge of the corner. He would look into the reflection of the metal and check to see if there were any guards on post.

For the first few minutes, it became clear that a lot of the attention was focused on fighting back against the others' assault. However, as they got deeper into the ship, they were met with two androids wielding laser guns. Tross pulled back his weapon, the reflection giving him the info that he needed. He gestured, raising two fingers at Daemon and Eric, then pointing with his thumb down the hallway.

 _'Two guards?_ ' Daemon thought, _'Too easy.'_

Tross looked away for a moment and when he turned back to daemon he was gone.

"That flakey Bastard." Tross whispered.

But when he turned back to the guards, Daemon was standing behind them. He waved gleefully to Tross as he drew his gun to the robot's head. He pulled the trigger and bits of wires and silicon went flying everywhere. The other droid turned to shoot daemon, but he was too fast. Catching the droids leg in a sweep that sent the robot to the ground and before he could call for back up daemon blasted the other robot in the head.

 _'He's fast'_ , For once, Tross was sincerely impressed by the alien man. He walked forwards down the hall with Eric keeping stride beside him. Tross' bayard was still at the ready, and he kept high alert in case he heard anything coming down the surrounding hallways towards them.

"Hey," Daemon boasted in a stage whisper, "Was that cool, or was that cool?" He asked the two rhetorically, looking at his nails like it was all _no big deal_.

"It actually was," Tross responded honestly, his eyes trained on the next corridor over, "But what are we going to do about those guys?"

Down the hall and to the right, there came five droids, all armed and seemingly heading to the same area that their maps displayed as the location of the lion. They were probably meant to be extra security sent over once the leader of the ship realized that there was a lion attacking outside.

Daemon ducked around a corner and out of their line of sight.

"Quick, the Earthling went that way!" The three over heard the guards say.

"There's another human? You don't think..." Tross began

"The kerbos mission." Eric finished his sentence

"Uhhh, the what now?" Daemon questioned.

"Shh! We'll explain later. For now, we gotta trail these guys." Tross snuck ahead, suddenly more determined than before. Eric followed suit, large body thankfully quieter than it looked.

"Obviously we're gonna tail the guys. There headed the direction we want to go." Said Daemon.

The three stealthily followed the soldiers to the large room that held the red lion. The peaked inside, not wanting to arouse too much attention.

"We have you cornered _Earthling_. Give up now!" The human in question was a large male of east Asian heritage. He had spiky black hair shaved along the sides with a white streak. His arm was also replaced with a robotic prosthetic.

"Shiro. Ohmygodthatsshiro" Tross muttered excitedly.

"Never" said Shiro who single handedly disarmed the guard, knocked the other out and crushed the robot brains of the final one.

"That was fucking badass." Said Eric.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eric spotted a fourth guard Shiro didn't see. It raised its gun and prepared to fire. Before it got a chance, Eric ran out and took the blast. It hit his shoulder. He screamed. then the red lion woke up.

Tross watched in horror as Eric jumped in front of the blast. "Eric!" Tross shouted, rushing forward and aiming a shot at the droid's head before firing it off. It slammed into the neck, bolts of metal and electricity sparking out from the new slash. He immediately moved in front of Eric's prone form, pulling back for another shot. He wouldn't get this lucky again, not without aiming properly.

How many now...? There were five going down the hall, only one left now. Where was it?

Daemon, years of evasion under his belt, feels a shift in the air behind him as the final droid steps out from behind the red lion. He falls forwards into a barrel roll, narrowly missing the blast aimed at his back. He had enough time to get up and whirl around, sword poised to strike, when he saw a flash of dark clothing as Shiro delivered a swift kick to the droid, sending it sprawling back against the wall.

Tross took that moment to make another shot, firing the weapon at the arm the guard held its blaster in. It struck true, causing the weapon to clatter to the ground, where it was quickly kicked his way by Daemon.

"Arm Eric!" He shouted as he pushed the gun forward. Tross took a moment to check on whether or not Eric was conscious, and to his relief, the sturdy man had slowly made his way back to his feet. His shoulder was somewhat singed, but the armor seemed to have held up _. Thank goodness. 'These bots don't fuck around,_ ' Tross thought to himself, filing away the info for later. Reasons to take the Galra seriously: 1.

He turned to pick up the gun and hand it to Eric, when several things happened simultaneously.

"Requesting backup in the hangar; Repeat: Requesting-" The droid's communication was cut short as Shiro struck a blow with his robotic arm, _straight through_ its abdomen.

 _'How on earth_...?' Tross thought with surprise. Then, _'All of this would only make sense not_ _on earth_ _, really_..." T

he droid crumpled to the ground, but the damage had been done. They were now on a time limit to escape. Just then, Eric walked forwards to the red lion, its shield now lowered. He pressed a hand to its leg, and its mouth opened willingly for him.

"I don't know who you people are," said Shiro. "But thank you."

Then about 20 galra, robots and actual soldiers alike, stormed the hanger.

"Everybody on the ship!" Yelled eric. No one questioned him. They burst through the door and flew into space. Daemon mentally, called out to blue, to make sure she was following as they hightailed it back to the castle.

"Wait, what about my lion?" Tross asks, alarmed.

"Just call out to her, genius." Daemon retorted ark.

"And just how do I do that?" Tross glared up at the taller man.

"You feel it, like in your guts and stuff," Eric supplied helpfully.

"Oh, boy..." Tross exhaled, "Here goes." He took a breath and focused. Thankfully, the green lion seemed to hear him loud and clear, following them soon enough on what Tross presumed to be some sort of autopilot.

The moment they were back in the castle's hangar, Allura's voice chimed over the intercom.

"Attention, Paladins. I am glad to see your mission was successful. Mara will be joining us soon, and when she does, we will be opening the warp gate and teleporting somewhere safe. Be prepared."

Mara swooped in only seconds later. They felt the castle whirring and stirring, and with the now oddly familiar tugging of the portal's pull, they all finally left the fray.

Allura once they were out of harms way ran down excited to greet the paladins. She was not expecting them to have picked up a straggler. "Um...who are you" she asked Shiro

"Shirogane Takashi." He said stretching out his hand. "But everyone calls me Shiro."

"Are you also a... Human, was it?" She asked, turning to Eric and Tross for confirmation. Eric nodded.

"He is, and a pretty famous one at that," Tross spoke, looking at Shiro. "He was basically a legend back at the garrison," Eric chimed in.

Shiro laughed uncomfortably at the compliment. "I mean. Maybe not a _legend_ " he said.

"He went missing along with the rest of the crew from the Kerbos mission. Earths first attempt at interplanetary travel." Said Eric.

"We were abducted." Added Shiro looking forlorn. "The galra were there, they took us prisoner... I can't begin to express how happy I am to see another human" Shiro finished.

Tross ventured a question, "Do the Galra... Have they abducted a lot of people?" He knew now might not be the best time, but his thoughts got the better of him all the same.

"They are known for their slave trade." Said daemon. "My mother was one."

Tross gulped, quietly. He decided to ask Shiro more about this at a later time, preferably when they had a moment alone. Something told him that in a castle-spaceship trying to dodge the bounty that the Galra would surely place on his head, Shiro wouldn't really be going anywhere for a while. "Though I understand your curiosity, paladins," Allura addressed them, "I believe it might be best if we allow our new ally to rest for the moment. Whatever the Galra put him through likely took a bigger toll on him than we realize."


	6. Chapter 6: Training Shenanigans

Later that evening, after a feast of... Food goo (As Eric had dubbed it), and the amazing revelation that Shiro was able to bond with the black lion Allura had in the castle, the paladins were getting ready to head to bed for the evening.

A few stragglers were left in the common quarters. Allura and Coran had gone for the evening. and Eric had crashed in his bed. Mara was hanging out with Yellow for a bit of tuning up, since it had taken a bit of a hit from the earlier fight (nothing too bad, of course), and Daemon had recently excused himself for a nice, warm shower with his name on it. That left Tross and Shiro.

"So..." Tross struggled to find the best way to broach the subject, "... How much do you know about the Galra?"

"Uh..." He looked a little confused by the question. "I'm not sure. Is their something specific you want to know..." He paused "Tross? Was it?"

"Yeah, it's Tross. I guess I mostly just want to know about the slave trade that Daemon mentioned." He paused, "Is that what you were to them? A slave?

"I was a gladiator. They had me fighting against aliens for their entertainment. So yeah I guess I was..."

"Oh..." That must have sucked, "I'm sorry," He said.

"It's alright" he said reading Tross "I'm here, well most of me." He held up his robo arm. "Is there a reason your asking?" He asked Tross with genuine concern

"I-I mean, not... I guess I'm just curious?" Tross spluttered out. He hadn't expected the older man to read him so easily. "I won't press much more than this, but I have to ask... Did you meet any other prisoners? How many of the abducted were... Humans, like us?"Batdad **-** 10/05/2017

"Not a lot of us." said Shiro. "There was me...and the other members of the Kerbos mission. But, I couldn't tell you what happened to them I'm afraid."

"The other members? You mean the Holt's, right?" He had almost forgotten that Shiro hadn't gone into space alone.

"Yeah" A forlorn look spread across his face

Tross placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure if you managed this long, that they're probably alright too," He took a moment to think, "Maybe once we get this whole 'Voltron' thing going, we can find them and take them back. Besides," He glanced around the large, empty common room, "This place could use more humans, if you ask me."

Tross smiled at the last remark. it was a pained smile. They were in this together now, he realized, and probably for the long haul as well.

"Chin up, soldier," Shiro joked, "The giant miracle robot will save the day."

A wave of exhaustion came over Tross as he watched the large Japanese man walk off to his sleeping quarters. He realized how long it had actually been since he'd slept. He was crazy jet legged after all this crazy space shit.

Tross woke up the next morning to Daemon leaning over him. "Hey! You! Wake up!" The alien yelled at him.

"Uuuuugh," Tross reached a hand up and squashed his palm against Daemon's face, hoping it would turn him off the same way that it would an alarm clock.

"What are you doing to my face weird alien thing?" said Daemon.

"How do I turn you off?" Tross groaned out, eyes still firmly shut.

"Pretty sure that's called murder." said daemon. "And its illegal in most parts of the galaxy"

Tross draged himself into a sitting position. "Relax," He mumbles, rubbing an eye, "I'm not going to kill you. Yet."

"Comforting" said Daemon sarcastically. "But seriously. Are you awake yet. We're meeting in the briefing room in a couple ticks...so put on some of your alien leg robes"

"Do you mean my pants?"

"Yeah those things" daemon gestured to a pair of brown cargo pants flung on the floor.

Tross waits, covers still over him. "What are you waiting for?" Daemon asks, "What, did you fall asleep again? Is this a human thing I don't know about?" He snarked.

Tross sent him a look, "Um, if I'm going to change, you need to get out of my room."

There was a look of genuine confusion on daemons face.

"You cant change your garments in the presence of another creature? That's weird" He continued to stand in front of Tross

"I mean, I _can_ , but I... We don't usually... Look, on Earth, it's kind of weird to let a stranger see you naked. Even partially naked." Tross attempted to explain, hoping that the taller man would stop looming over his bed and just _go, already_.

He didn't.

 _'Of_ _fucking course_ _he won't_ ', Tross thought, giving the other a sour look. _'I'm being messed with,'_ Tross concluded. "You know," He said, "I bet Allura won't like it if we're late. If she finds out _you're_ the reason we kept her waiting, I bet she'll be upset with you." Tross tried a threat. The princess, he had learned quickly enough, was a force to be reckoned with when she was mad at you.

Daemon couldn't argue with that logic. But he was curious about human physiology. That and he loved making Tross squirm, and this really was doing it. He continued to stay ''How am I keeping her? you're the one that refuses to get up and get dressed."

"I can't with you in the room! I told you already!" Tross protested. God, was he really going to make him do this?

It took all Daemons willpower to not start cackling. But he continued to stand and stare down Tross. It was too much fun.

Tross was determined to keep this from happening. But what could he do? His pants were literally on the ground, and the cover was all that was keeping him from being exposed, nothing but his boxers to cover his... region.

Tross looked around the room for something to escape this situation with. All he had within reach was the pillow and the blanket... But maybe that was enough! With a burst of inspiration, Tross reaches behind himself and expertly flings the pillow at Daemon's face. Pillows aren't exactly aerodynamic, but you don't grow up with four siblings and not learn a few tricks.

In the split second when the pillow obscures Daemon's vision, and Daemon stumbles backwards and splutters out an, "Ah!" of surprise, Tross takes the blanket from around him and shoves it over Daemon's head, successfully blocking the alien's view of him. Before Daemon can register what's happening, Tross has begun walking the galtean blanket-ghost towards the open door. With a final decisive shove, Tross launches Daemon out the door with a, "Stay out of my room!"

Daemon falls to the ground, the blanket fluttering above him as he does. Through the haze of fabric, however, he manages to get a glimpse of a pants less human just before Tross clicks the button to lock and close the door.

Daemon lying on the ground says out loud "Well...that's a strange place for an antenna. How do you get any reception from down there."

Tross finished changing, and made his way to the meeting room. To no one's surprise, the two of them were the last ones there. Tross pulled up a seat beside Eric, and Daemon plopped beside Shiro. Allura looked over them before beginning to speak.

"Paladins, I have gathered you here because it is vital that we begin your training. Today, you will be going through several team-building exercises which will strengthen your bonds with both your lions and one another."

"This better not be bestiality thing" said Eric

"Bestiality?" Allura asked, not comprehending. She brushed it off, "Well, whatever that is, it won't matter as long as you take this training seriously. I expect you put in 100 percent of your efforts, today." She turned to the group, "Any questions?"

Eric's hand went up again.

Tross breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't bothered to ask about the bestiality thing.

"Not about this bestiality. OR VAPING!" said Allura.

Eric lowered his hand

Tross supressed a smile at their antics.

Mara spoke up, "So what's the first exercise?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" Allura smiled at them sweetly.

The next thing they knew the four paladins were piled on top of each other trying to for voltron out side of their lions in an attempt to form voltron mentally before they can physically. Stacked in a human pyramid, but with less humans.

Daemon and Mara are at the bottom. They do not like that. Eric and Tross are on top of them, and Shiro is balanced at the very top. It is not a very elegant display of acrobatics.

"Allura?" Shiro hesitates to ask, "What exactly is this supposed to be doing?"

"Isn't it obvious. Your forming voltron...without the lions." she said with a smile.

"Really? cause all I feel is short stacks scrawny knee digging in to my spine." said daemon.

Tross dug his knee a little deeper.

"You little quiznak!" Daemon said. he stood up, toppling the pyramid as he lunged at Tross

Tross quickly ducked out of the way, tucking behind Mara to try and form a barrier between himself and Daemon.

Daemon was unable to get past the solidly built woman. She casually pushed him backwards. "This isn't the point of the exercise...You purple bastard!"

All eyes on daemon. Who had calmed himself, despite the slur.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Mara," Allura spoke, "Would the two of you _please_ take this seriously?" Mara picked Tross up by the scruff of his shirt and launched him at Eric and Shiro. "Yeah. The sooner you guys pull your shit together, the sooner we can get this done," She lectured the now airborne human.

Daemon stifled his laughter at the sight of Tross flying.

Tross crashed into Eric, who easily buffered his fall. He got back up with a huff, sending a childish glare Daemon's way. "Fine!" He said, addressing the two women while brushing himself off.

"Perhaps we should try a different exercise" said Allura. She looked at Coran for some ideas

"We could try the labyrinth?" He suggested, "That one's a classic!"

"Oh Coran, your right."

"What's the labyrinth?" asked Eric. "Your about to find out" said Coran. He twirled his moustache as he said it, showing his enthusiasm.

For the second time that day, Tross found himself fearing the excitement of his Altean captors. Which as it turns out was the right move. The labyrinth being some form of Altean death maze, was in fact very terrifying.

Electrocution. _Invisible_ electrocution. _Of course_. Tross was not particularly excited for this, but he knew he had nothing to worry about as long as he got either Shiro or Eric as a partner. Even Mara probably wouldn't lead him astray too badly, though he was uncertain of what she really thought of him or his safety. Yes, as long as he wasn't partnered with...

"Daemon," Allura spoke up, "You will be leading Tross through the maze first. Then, Shiro and Mara will go. Finally, Eric will partner with whomever has taken the least amount of damage by that point."

 _fuck_.

Daemon could see very clearly that Tross located in a section where all he had to do was head forward and to the right to get out.

"Start by heading to your left." said Daemon. Tross walked into a field.

''Sorry, sorry...uh...right." he hit another field. Daemon was very audibly snickering over the intercom. "okay, seriously though, head straight." Tross not trusting him anymore headed backwards, only to hit another field.

"Agh!" He gave a shout. _Fuck_ , that hurt. He pulled away from the invisible wall. "You know what?" He shouted angrily over the com, "I'm not doing this with you. I'm doing this on my own!" He looked around himself, trying to discern where to go next. Forward was the only way. He tentatively took a few steps.

He managed a bit, but eventually hit another wall.

Daemon was cackling uncontrollably over the intercom.

Tross pulled out his bayard.

"Er, Tross?" Coran interrupted, "You can't really break these walls, even with a weapon like the bayard. Maybe you should just give Daemon's instructions another try?"

"It's not for the walls," Tross decided, aiming straight up at the ceiling. If he could only hit at just the right angle... The weapon fired off, and embedded into the ceiling. He let himself get pulled up and out of the labyrinth, attempting to swing forward with the momentum of the pull, trying to clear enough of the labyrinth to get to the other door on the far side of the room. He only got two thirds of the way, and landed with a harsh slam against one of the walls.

"Hahah, HAHAHAH-" He could hear Daemon howling in his earpiece, Daemon was now rolling on the floor and crying he was laughing so hard.

Tross on the other hand was firing off all kinds of profanities, most of which were in languages daemon didn't understand.

Tross forced himself back up again. He bit into his lip to fight off the slight tremors his body had from the shocks. He could do this. He could. He just needed to be smarter about it. He closed his eyes and focused on the bayard. He tried to imagine it slightly different, the blade of grappling hook slightly sharper, more elongated. He felt a shift in his hand, and when he opened his eyes, it seemed that the changes were made. Gripping a lock of hair in his hand, he trimmed one of the overgrown bangs that had been obscuring his features as of late. He gathered up the bits of hair and blew tiny pieces all around him. Left... They burned. Right, they burned. Front, burned. The only ones that didn't burn were the ones he'd blown behind him. Okay, that was the way. He made it a good chunk of the way through before he had to cut another lock, though at that point Coran felt the need to step in,

"Listen, Tross, the whole point of this exercise is to rely on your partner. I appreciate that you have some problem-solving skills, even if they're very strange-"

'Well, he's blunt as ever' Tross thought.

"But right now I really need you to give this exercise another try." Coran implored. Tross sighed. He looked up to Daemon in the glass chamber above him and waited.

Daemon, with his short attention span was no longer laughing but watching Tross intently. Curious as to how the alien was able to think its way out of situations.

He watched Tross like a scientist watches a mouse in a maze, fascinated by the small dark haired creature.

That small, dark haired creature was getting fed up with waiting for instructions, "Well?" He demanded, "Are we doing this or what?"

Daemon shook his head. "wha-huh- oh, um your actually almost there. just turn left... no my left...there you go." and with that Tross made it out alive

Coran scratches at his head, "Well, I, uh... I suppose that'll do?"

"Good," Tross swiped the helmet off his head as he entered the room, "Because I am _not_ doing that again."

"Actually, you'll have to. Once the rest of the teams have made it through, you and Daemon will be switching roles, and this time you'll be the leader." Coran informed. Tross stared at Daemon with a carefully neutral expression, "Oh, really?" He asked Coran, not taking his eyes off of Daemon for a second.

Daemon gulped

"Uh-oh"

As Mara and Shiro took up their places, Tross allowed himself to send a small, cold smile Daemon's way, before _innocently_ turning to watch Mara navigate the maze through the glass panel.

 _That small critter is the devil,_ is what went through daemons mind

Mara and Shiro were fairly fast at solving the puzzle, daemon noticed. _be brave D, you got this_

Next up was Eric, who Mara navigated with ease. Finally, it was time for the switch.

Daemon hesitantly took his position n the middle of the arena

"Now, step forward." Tross' voice sounded in his ear. "About five steps."

Daemon walked backwards. Not trusting the little devil.

A charge hit him abruptly, and he yelled out in pain. "I said to walk forwards." Tross repeated calmly.

Daemon did as he was instructed. Walking five feet forwards

Nothing. He was fine.

"Now, three steps to your right."

he took three steps to the right

He was... Still fine. Huh.

"Good. Now about ten steps forward, I think. Walk slow."

Daemon continued to do as he was told. he hated it.

Nothing kept on happening. Tross' instructions were spot on each time. About two thirds of the way to the end, Daemon had nearly stopped paying attention to it all. "Now, just five steps to the right."

He did what Tross said.

"Okay, you're almost through," Tross encouraged, "I need to go to the bathroom, though, so I'll need you to hurry this up a bit. Plus, I kind of want to get this over with. Can you walk about 10 steps left of you, and then just leg it the rest of the way to the exit? It's to your right after the first ten steps."

He did just that, but he ran. At the very end as he turned the corner he tripped...and fell into a wall.

 _"AAAHHHH"_

He had followed the instructions to the letter... But where the exit should be, he felt the unmistakable pain of the wall he had tripped into. _'God damn it._ ' He thought, _'The little devil tricked me_.'

"Which way do I go, Shortstack"

No response.

"Listen here you little quiznak, if you don't tell me which I go I am going to tell everyone about your antennae."

No response.

"TROOOOOOSSSSSSSS!"

There was the sound of shuffling over the earpiece, and a voice spoke in the midst of his yelling. "Hey, it's me, Eric."

"Eric, where the hell did Tross go. Also, how do I get out."

"Tross said he was going to the bathroom. Coran saw how well you guys were doing and bailed too."

The blonde idiot spoke matter-of-factly.

"But how do I get out. Tross led me down a dead end."

"I don't know if I should tell you. Coran said it was really important that you trust your partner in this whole thing, and I'm not your partner. It would be kind of breaking the rules," He finished.

"YOU CAN TELL CORAN THAT IM GOING TO TEAR THAT TINY MEAT SACK APART IF HE DOESNT GET BACK HERE!"

"I can't tell him. Coran's not here. Weren't you listening?" The loud, aggravated groan of Daemon could be heard _well beyond_ the walls of the labyrinth room

After several minutes had passed, it had become apparent that Tross would not be returning. Coran, however, took this moment to step back in and check on everyone left in the training room.

"Eric? What are you doing? Where is Tross?"

"Coran!?" said Daemon. "can you hear me"

Coran pressed a button, "Daemon, for future reference, you need to ask me before switching partners for this exercise."

"THATS NOT WHAT HAPPENED! TROSS WALKED OUT ON ME AFTER TAKING ME DOWN A DEAD END!"

"What? But you were doing so well!"

"Were we Coran. Were we." Daemon said sarcastically. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted the little bastard. He kept giving me the evil eye while we waited for my turn."

"Might that be because you led him astray when you were leading?" Coran questioned half-rhetorically.

"Twice." daemon was frustrated. "I led him into a wall twice at the beginning and was honest the rest of the way with him"

"Look, Coran, how about you lower the walls and we finish up this disaster of an exercise later." said daemon laying on his best smooth talk

"I mean, he technically led you honestly most of the way, too," Eric commented, "You're actually really close to the end of the maze"

Coran debated, but decided that the purple man had had enough, "Oh, alright. But let this be a lesson to you; What goes around comes around, and if you're going to trust each other like paladins should, you'll both need to treat each other with respect," He sighed, "Right, the labyrinth is down. I'll speak to Tross about this later."

Daemon let out a big breath that he didn't realize he was holding. he ran out of the arena to confront Tross. He finds the man in his bedroom, curled on the mattress with an Altean book in his hands. He appeared to be taking notes on the language.

He opens the door and glared at tross.

"You know, I may be galra. But that stunt was pretty fucking evil, dude."

"Did I say 'exit'?" Tross spoke, unrepentantly feigning innocence, "I meant 'dead end'. My bad."

Tross looked up at daemon. he saw a lot of things on his face. anger frustration and what looked faintly like...respect.

"You know you have the makings of an evil genius. its a good thing you're on our side." said Daemon.

Despite himself, Tross grinned at the praise.

"Tross..." said daemon before leaving.

"...Yeah?" A suspicious glance was sent at Daemon's back.

"What's the purpose of your antennae?"

 _What the hell was he talking about? Humans don't have antennae._ Okay, he had _not_ been _that_ naked. Then again, these weren't loose boxers... "I-Wha- _HUH?_ "He could feel the red rising on his face. _He'd been so sure his plan had worked_.

"I caught a glimpse this morning. And I've been wondering all day, what purpose does it serve?"

He couldn't mean... There was _no way_. One look at Daemon's focused gaze and he knew _exactly_ what the other was referring to. 'Oh, no...' Tross thought.

A sly smile spread over daemons lips.

"I'm just messing with you. I know what a knorfka is."

Against his better judgement, Tross ventured to ask, "K...Knorfka?"

"Male genatalia"

Well, if his face wasn't burning up before, it certainly was after _that_ bluntness.

On that note daemon gave a wicked grin and left tross's room. "Good night Tross" The Alien called as he sauntered off down the hall.


	7. Chapter 7: The Gang Form Voltron

It was the middle of the night. the sky was black, and all the paladins were snuggled in their beds when the lights started flashing and alarms blaring. One by one they raced to the main control room. Their a sleepy Allura and an alarmed looking Coran were up and debating course of action

''Paladins, quick. you must get to your lions at once. Zarkon has sent a battle cruiser here. We have about thirty ticks before they land. hurry! you must form Voltron!" she yelled

The five of them rushed into the hangar. They moved with speed and gusto, the past few days' training having paid off. Launching out into the sky, the lions gathered around one another, Shiro leading the way.

"What's our strategy?" Tross asked Shiro over the com.

"Form Voltron." he said with authority. "How are we gonna do that?" said Daemon "We'll have to figure it out... there is no alternative."

"Remember the mind-melding exercises," Mara said, "If we focus on the same thing, we can do it."

"Yeah, but we flunked that exercise because 'T' kept thinking about some girl." Daemon reminded them.

"I was feeling homesick, okay? It's not a crime," Tross said, "Besides, it's not like I'll have much on my mind when we're being attacked, anyway."

"Just remember guys, this is not a drill. This is what we have been training for." yelled Shiro over the inter coms. The paladins flew up to the sky and they could see a ship like the one they found red on, but much larger.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat." muttered Eric under his breath, unable to resist the Jaws reference. "Come on Paladins. Its time to _FORM VOLTRON!_ " Shiro yelled as the paladins maneuvered their lions in formation.

Before they could move close enough, there was a large blast aimed between them. Mara and Daemon split off to the left, while Eric and Tross dove downwards to avoid it. Shiro attempted to move to catch up to the blue and yellow lions, only to be accosted by several different blasts that he dodged by a hair. Seeing their leader becoming singled out, Eric decides, "It's all good, I've got this!" and dives towards the ship and into the fray. The red lion creates an ample distraction, sending a few heavy slices across the blasters that were a touch too slow on the uptake.

"Shiro?" Tross said. "We need more than formation flying.

"We need to do that weird mind meld bullshit we've been practicing" Said Mara.

"Mara's right. I know a battle isn't the most zen place, but we must focus. Everyone take a deep breath and we'll try again." said Shiro.

"Alright. Eric, we need you," Tross agreed. Eric rushed back from his distraction, meeting with the others. They didn't keep their spot for long; the five of them rushed upwards in an arc over the enemy ship, dodging lasers left and right. For a few seconds, without any of them realizing it at first, they were all moving in perfect sync with one another. Shiro, naturally, was the first to notice. He took this moment as their cue. "Now! Everyone, form Voltron!"

All the paladins began to feel this nagging force pulling them together as they flew in perfect sync. they came together in air and their lions began merging. Blue and yellow turning into the legs, red and green the arms and the black lion nestling at the top. together they form the robot warrior Voltron. "That was Badass." said Eric calmly over the intercom.

Everyone silently agreed. Well, Daemon not-so-silently agreed, proclaiming, "Hell yeah!" from Voltron's leg. "No time to celebrate," Shiro commanded, "We still have to deal with Zarkon's ship. Eric, can you form the sword?" "Here goes," Eric responds, twisting his bayard in its socket. Soon, a dazzling red-adorned giant sword formed in Voltron's hand.

Eric was audibly giggling over the group intercom. they charged towards the ship and punched the laser canon off before sticking the sword into the hull and tearing through the metal like a knife through butter. explosions rocked the inside of the ship be for ultimately exploding in a massive fire ball. Eric's giggling intensified.

"Huh. That was easy," Mara was honestly surprised. This " _Voltron_ " certainly lived up to its reputation!

"Like the sword, big guy?" Tross smiled fondly at Eric even though the other couldn't see.

"Oh, hell yeah!" was his response.

"Good job, team. Allura, are there any other Galra ships on the way?" Shiro addressed the busy princess.

She took one last look at the scanners before responding, "There shouldn't be, but we're moving the castle just to be safe. Everyone please come back inside."

"Wait, what do you mean by move the castle?" asked Tross. suddenly they all watched in stunned silence as the castle rose out of the ground. as it turns out it was not just a hightech castle, but also a space station.

"That is amazing. I didn't know altean technology could do that!" cried daemon

"Aren't you part Altean?" Eric asked. He hadn't heard the story that Tross had heard. He had no way of knowing that Daemon was a bit of a... Special case. "Well, yeah, but I didn't grow up around them." Daemon replied, still somewhat distracted by the coolness before him.

The castle once safely suspended in space opened it hangar doors for the lions to return. "Aww yeah. that was easy!" cried Eric as they landed. "Yes, but they wont all be that easy. that was one battle cruiser. just wait til you come up against an entire fleet of them, or Zarkon himself" said Coran.

"Will Zarkon face us directly?" Tross asked, "He seems to let others do the dirty work, from what I've seen."

"For now. But the time will come when you will face him. How else are you supposed to overthrow him"

It was a fair point, Tross thought. He gave a quick nod to show that he understood.

"How strong _is_ Zarkon, anyway?" Eric questioned.

"Well..." began Daemon "I heard he punched a planet once and it exploded. But that's mostly speculation."

"That can't possibly be true, about the planet. but nevertheless, he is incredibly dangerous in combat and we should really focus on crippling the empire before we attempt a full strike." said allura

"How are we going to do that?" Tross asked, "I mean, Voltron is strong, but the Galra have an army."

"We're going to free the people they've enslaved just like I helped free the Balmera, and then we're going to have those people help us wreck Zarkon's shit," Mara stated confidently.

"Are the people that we're freeing really going to be up for that? They probably don't have any weapons, and the Galra have been taking their resources. Are they even ready to go to war?" Tross wondered, staring at Allura for answers.

"I admit, what you say is true. The planets that Zarkon has conquered are not going to be in the best shape when we liberate them, but that's all the more reason to gather strength in numbers. The more people that we join under the name of Voltron, the stronger our cause will be." She said optimistically.

"And to answer your question about the weapons... _Anyone can get weapons._ Its just a matter of knowing where to look." Said Daemon smugly. And having lived under galra rule - and I'm sure Mara will agree with me - I'm pretty fucking pissed. The kind of pissed that motivates you to do stupid shit like fly a giant robot lion in an attempt to overthrow an empire. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that if other species under the galra rule aren't ready then they will be more than happy to get ready, cause this shit"s about to get heavy."

Mara gives the purple man a firm nod. "Well, I can't argue with that. We take back the planets, Daemon hooks us up with some gear, and we get everyone to fight with us and save the universe,"

Tross agreed, "Sounds like a pretty good plan to me."

"I'm not so sure I like the sound of Daemon's... _sources_ " Allura side-eyed the galtean, "I doubt that we want to associate Voltron with illegal arms dealers."

"Their only _illegal_ " daemon did air quotes to the word illegal "To the galra empire. for the most part these friends of mine are just trying to make some honest money."

"He has a point, Allura," Coran gently told her, "Besides, we can't really afford to be picky about where we get our resources."

Allura sighed, "I know. I still think it would be best if we keep these sources to ourselves, though, when we start forming alliances."

"Well, duh," Daemon drawled, "It's not like I was about to go announcing it. That's 'dodging the law 101."

Allura raised an eyebrow. _Why was this criminal ever chosen as a paladin?_ she thought to herself

The paladins each went their separate ways for the remainder of the day, only being called back to dinner for the evening. Allura was glad to see that everyone seemed to be getting along. She was worried that somehow, the lions were wrong and that these paladins could never work together. But even Tross and Daemon were holding a civil conversation tonight, not to mention that this day was the very first time that the five of them had successfully formed Voltron. She felt like giving them a reward of some sort, but what could she offer?

She briefly consulted the mice, "What do you think? It's been so long since we've focused on anything but their training. I'm at a loss for what to do."

A series of squeaks as one of the mice mimicked a breast stroke swim. "Of course! The recreation area on the bottom floor! How could I forget?" The princess beamed, "Thank you. I'll announce it tonight."

Later that evening, after a hearty meal of food goo, the five of them were led downstairs and down several corridors. Allura seemed very pleased, and that could either mean more training or some good news about their little rebellion. It didn't mean either. The five of them, along with Coran, entered a room with a large swimming pool at its center.

"As a reward for how well you've all been doing, and for defeating that Galra ship as Voltron, I've decided to introduce you all to the aquatic recreation area." She announced.

"It's a pool?" Eric raised an eyebrow, giving the water a blank look. There was a pause. "... _It's a POOL!_ " Eric shouted with glee, stripping off his shirt and pants and leaping into the water.


	8. Chapter 8:The Gang Have A Pool Party?

Tross stepped timidly out of the room once the three came back. He didn't like being around others when he changed.

When he came back inside, however, it seemed that Mara and Shiro were engaged in conversation while Eric had managed to pull Allura and Coran into swimming with him and having a splashing contest. As for Daemon... He appeared to be watching a certain someone's rear end. Tross raised an eyebrow, unimpressed with the space rogue,

"Nice pool, huh?" He tried, testing to see just how focused Daemon was on...Well, anything other than their leader's ass.

Daemon continued to stare.

"Daemon?" That got his attention. Daemon shook his head before turning to Tross

"Huh? What?"

"Enjoying the pool?" He wanted to say _'Enjoying the view?'_ but he hoped that the sarcasm seeping into his tone would do the talking _for_ him.

"Wha- oh yeah." He looked a little embarrassed. Realizing that Tross _knew_. "It is a pretty good pool."

Tross gave Daemon a smile that confirmed that Tross knew that Daemon knew he knew,

"Yeah," He agreed, "Just as nice as the ones back home. Care to join me in a cannonball contest?" ' _Before you get discovered by someone else._ ' He added mentally.

"What's a cannon ball?" Daemon asked.

Before he could answer Mara disengaging in her conversation with Shiro walked over and shoved daemon into the pool. He landed in the water with all the grace of a dying squid.

Tross couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Holy shit," He tried to supress his giggles, to no real avail, "That was hilarious," He wheezed, moving to give Mara a high-five. Before their hands connected, however, Tross felt a wet hand grip his ankle in a _vice_.

Daemon dragged Tross kicking and screaming into the icy depths of the pool.

Tross felt the bubbles rush up above him as his body displaced the water, his eyes squeezing shut against the sting of chlorine... Only to realize that the Alteans seemed not to use chlorine at all.

He rose to the surface, treading water once he reached the top, and watched as Daemon tried to give Mara much the same treatment, only to have the muscular woman simply rip her leg from his grasp in one easy tug.

Tross took this moment to try and sneak up on Daemon and dunk his head under the water. He had scooted closer as quietly as he could, but he neglected to account for galtean hearing ability, which was, as he discovered in a moment, much better than he thought.

As he jumped onto Daemon, the alien intercepted mid pounce. He turned around and the two began Wrestling in the water. "Jeez, get a room you two!" Called Eric.

"Just what about this looks even _remotely_ romantic to you?" Tross yelled from the headlock that the taller man had put him in.

"Who said anything about romance" said Eric with a look in his eye that made Tross briefly contemplate homicide.

Before he could retort, his head was forcibly dunked under the water. He began trying to pry the taller man's arms off of him instinctively, only to have Daemon release him a few seconds later. Daemon didn't know much about humans, but he assumed that without gills, they could drown. So, with the satisfying few seconds of dominance up, he let the shorter man push back up to the surface with a gasp. Only to be assaulted with aggressive splashing from the surprisingly competitive human instantaneously after.

"Splash fight!" Eric yelled, quickly joining in.

Eric then proceeded to jump directly on daemon. The massive force pulling him down under the water.

Then after a few moments they bobbed back up to the surface. Air coming back into daemons lungs after the surprise drowning. _He figured he deserved it_.

Then Shiro met them all with that disappointed dad look. You know the one.

"Be careful with the roughhousing," He said, "It's fine to take it easy, but I don't want any of you getting hurt."

Tross splashed daemon one more time.

Daemon tackled Tross. Shiro facepalmed

"Listen here you skag licks!" Yelled Mara. "If you don't stop fighting I will come in there and kick all y'alls assess."

Everybody stopped. All fearing Mara and her massive muscles.

Tross... He knew, deep down, that he shouldn't have done what he did next. But damn if he didn't want to see what would happen.

His curiosity clearly getting the better of him, he used his position at the side of the pool to send a large splash of water directly at Mara's legs, trying to push the water up as much as he could. He managed to hit her directly in the face.

"Okay that's it Tross!" Said Mara hopping into the pool. "Your ass is mine." She swam menacingly towards Tross.

"Guys please just calm down. We're all on the same side." Shiro pleaded to his team.

"We are the last line of defense for the universe and THIS is how you behave!" Said Shiro "The universe is doomed." Muttered Allura under her breath

"Now, I wouldn't say that, you two," Coran said, leaning forward at the middle to take a closer, exaggerated look at the paladins in the pool, "Take another look." Allura and Shiro did as they were requested, and they noticed a couple of things.

Mara, who could probably use her strength to outswim any of them, was approaching Tross slowly, giving the younger man a chance to turn tail. And Tross, despite the somewhat nervous look on his features, was _smiling_. Eric and Daemon moved away from Mara, but they were beginning to show some grins of their own as they did. Just as Mara was about to lunge for Tross, Eric sent a huge splash her way as well.

"You too, Eric!" And off she went, easily catching up to both boys, dunking them briefly under the water with a triumphant laugh of her own once she let them go.

The paladins were having _fun_. 'And what's more', Shiro and Allura realized, 'They were having fun _together_.'

Allura raised her hand to her chin with fascination, "I never realized that human bonding was so unique..." She thought aloud. "Believe it or not, that," Shiro glanced at the feuding crew, "Isn't usually the standard," He finished, rubbing the back of his neck with a slightly awkward smile.

"Well, perhaps we should join them," Allura suggested optimistically, right before Daemon was seen attempting to launch himself out of the pool, only to be pulled back by Mara, kicking and screaming.

"Erm, maybe hold that thought, Princess," Coran suggested, eyeing the situation with a bit of apprehension.

Shiro took a running leap and cannon balled into the chaos. "Whose hand is touching my butt?" He asked once he resurfaced.

"No idea" said daemon

In between getting shoved into the water by Daemon and resurfacing, Eric hadn't seen Shiro leap into the water. So, when his hand grabbed flesh under the water, his immediate thought was that he had grabbed the pant leg of Daemon, who was still nearby, and so his first instinct was to try and dunk the person he had grabbed. This, however, had resulted in a rather misplaced _squeeze_ of the booty of their fearless leader. Eric resurfaced, realizing what he was squishing in his hands and quickly letting go.

"That wasn't a leg!" He exclaimed once he broke the water's surface. He then got a good look at who he had grabbed, "...And you're not Daemon." He finished lamely, realizing the full caliber of his mistake.

Shiro was startled by Eric's sudden outburst. And jumped backwards into the arms of Daemon.

Daemon found the situation very amusing as he held their leader princess/knight style in his arms.

"Bro I am so sorry. I didn't mean to molest you." Said Eric gingerly.

"It's fine," Shiro said, moving out of Daemon's grasp, "You just surprised me, that's all."

That was when Tross and Mara decided to come out of the woodwork once more. They had joined forces, to deliver to the rest of the team the ultimate surprise of the night. "You ready?" She asked the smaller man. "Yep." He snapped the goggles that he'd borrowed from Coran over his eyes and curled up into a ball.

With one swift motion, Mara lifted Tross' curled up form and swung him in an arc overhead. He flew past the trio of men in front of them, landing with a huge splash just ahead of Shiro and Eric. Mara, meanwhile, rushed behind Daemon and got all three of them caught in a small _tidal wave_ of water, pushing the liquid out towards them with a swoop of her large arms.

They all went under. Shiro began questioning why he's decided to join them. This really is chaos.

Eric let out a large "whohoo" that Allura and Coran could hear even though he was underwater.

And Daemon curled into a ball and let the waves take him where they would.

Coran and Allura remained baffled by what was going on in front of them

Tross rose out of the water and waded to Mara, who was admiring her handiwork with a smirk and a hand on her hip, utterly pleased. Tross raised his arms, and they performed a double-high-five in the middle of the pool. After an evening filled with this and many other aquatic shenanigans, the Voltron team finally decided to hit the hay. They had tuckered themselves out, and who knows what they would have to face the next day?


End file.
